Kvelertak's Nattesferd: Review

The first two tracks on Kvelertak’s Nattesferd indicate the dynamics of the entire album. “Dendroful for Yggdrasil” is black-n-roll with touches of Seventies Rush, while “1985” immediately calls to mind Eighties Van Halen. The rest of the album navigates the territory around these soundscapes, with results that are never less than metal.

 

Kvelertak is a Norwegian band and Nattesferd, their third release, shows a band that has found a distinct sound. As frontman Erlend Hjelvik screams lyrics in Norwegian about Norse mythology, ancient ones from the stars, berserkers, witches and necromancers, no less than three guitars continually chug and wail, while the drums pound, sometimes reaching blazing speeds. There are no clean lead vocals, there are no ballads. The cover art, in the style of old fantasy paperbacks, features a bearded and armed warrior hunching amid craggy heights beside the band’s mascot, an owl.

How metal is that?

But while Kvelertak may black like Khold and roll like Vreid ca. V, Nattesferd has more polish. The songwriting is pop-tight, with touches everywhere alluding to past decades. Like many metal bands, Kvelertak clearly have roots in Seventies classic rock, but the Eighties influences stand out most, with “1985” hearkening back to Van Halen’s 1984, and “Svartmesses” featuring guitar practically lifted from the opening of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” I would also swear there are Nineties alternative influences, among them female backing vocals on “Nattesferd” and “Heksebrann” reminiscent of The Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins.

 

But for all that, Nattesferd never sounds retro like Wolfmother, The Sword or recent Opeth. It’s as if Kvelertak have adopted as a musical philosophy the statement on the band's website that introduces the lyrics for “1985”:  In the future, the only way forward will be to go back. Kvelertak’s sound has taken a leap forward into new territory for the group, and for metal, by mining sounds from the past for blending with the group's black-metal heritage.

I liked Nattesferd the first time I listened to it, and it only got better upon further listens. There’s nothing wrong with doom and death in metal, but this album, while heavy, only rises. You feel at times like the warrior on the cover--or even better, his owl, gifted with flight--surveying the world as it spreads beneath the blue vault of Heaven.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

 

Other music reviews:
Queensryche’s Debut with La Torre
Queensryche’s Condition Human
David Bowie’s Blackstar