This album in one sentence: Crusty grindcore d-beat from Bergen that sounds like crusty grindcore d-beat from everywhere else in Scandinavia. "Livstid" is a decent example of how all the good albums in this genre sound, although it is a genre that's severely marred by its limited scope for experimentation. That limitation inevitably means that the mark of a good album within this Skitsystem-ruled world is simply the ability to keep up with the Joneses. It also means that unless you're either a devoted follower of all things crust or someone brand new to the genre, pretty much everything will sound the same to you. "Livstid" is a little cleaner and makes more use of melody than a lot of the stuff out there and there's enough tempo variation within the album to keep it interesting, but it's still predominately blistering fast and nasty, like all of these albums are. If that's your bag and you're either the devotee or the novice, you'll dig it. - John Norby
2nd single from Norwegian prog/indie act Do You Love Melena?, a new act featuring members from Pow Pow and Rumble in Rhodos. Look for the band's self-titled debut "Marathon" to be released on April 20 via . RIYL Mew, Mars Volta and/or maybe Muse.
have added psychedelic black-metal act Furze to their roster and will be releasing the band's 5th album "Psych minus space control" on May 11 on both CD and LP.
Meshuggah djentiness + Genghis Tron Commodore-64iness – vox = Next Life.
The above equation is all you need in order to understand what "Artificial divinity" sounds like. For the purposes of review, however, I suppose I should give you an idea of its listenability. Well, it's alright; there's a bit of piddling about with sounds on a couple of tracks here, the results of which touch on a dark ambient sentiment more than any hint of conventional metal. Not that conventional really applies anywhere on "Artificial divinity", mind. Those tracks works very well as they stand on the album. The big let down on something that would be an otherwise killer album, though, is that the other tracks -- the metal stuff -- could really do with vocals of some sort. This style of metal just doesn't lend itself that well to instrumentalism, despite what the Norwegian trio might think. It has to be said, though, that even though Steve Wiebe doesn't really look like he's into metal, if he is, he's probably into this sort of stuff. Twelve songs in just over 20 minutes. Mental bunch of bastards! - John Norby
, the stellar in-house label of Oslo's likewise excellent Tiger Records Shop, has a nice new website: http://www.fysiskformat.no/
They are also taking a poll as to everyone's favorite release which will also enter you in a raffle to win 5 free albums of your choosing: http://fysiskformat.tigernet.no/wp_ff/poll/
It's official: the upcoming Okkultokrati record due out in late November will be an extra-special Christmas-themed split 7" with Haust called "Black Hole X-mas". Haust contribute a new recording of the modern evergreen "No Christmas" which originally premiered during last year's Alternativ Julekalendar and Okkultokrati respond in kind with "All I want for Christmas is glue". Official release is November 25 via . If you're looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite misanthrope, this is it!
has confirmed that they will be releasing the self-titled debut full-length from Norwegian d-beat hardcore act Livstid on October 21 and it's now available for preorder right here: http://www.tigernet.no/shop//search.php?search=livstid
"Odine", the second and supposedly final single from Årabrot's new album "Solar anus", due out Septmeber 9 via . If you like your music heavy and mean, you need this.
Livstid
Next Life
