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Kvelertak: Meir
09/05/13 || Cobal
Back in 2010 when these Norwegians broke into the metal scene with their homonymous album, it seemed as though they were going to be the next big thing or something. Not having listened to their debut as thoroughly as required to emit a serious opinion, I’ll tell you this: their sound was fresh. All those details and melodies in their music as well as an almost mainstream vibe did grab them some attention.
“Kvelertak”, the album, was a pretty enjoyable blending of punk music, pure rock —although many think it’s rather rock ‘n’ roll stuff— and black metal, and as unlikely as it sounds, it was a nice one after all. Or at least it appeared so. Everybody had something to say about the new face of metal. I mean it, everybody, even people who regularly wouldn’t give a damn for whatever is happening on this side of the world.
Three years later, “Meir” makes its appearance and there has been some hype about it naturally. When that happens, it’s inevitable to grow some expectations and that definitely doesn’t help one’s objectivity. Anyway, even I was expecting to listen to it and was most interested in writing a review.
The same way many death metal bands go more and more extreme as their works follow one another, this sextet bet precisely on their accessibility and rock vibe for their second work. Terrible? Not quite. Matter of fact, “Meir” sounds much better thought-out than its ancestor in many ways. It’s more of the same, if you like, but in bigger and better shaped amounts.
More melodies, more twin guitars ala Iron Maiden, more rock riffs ala AC/DC and a more punk attitude. That black metal moments are now almost extinct. Almost, that is. That doesn’t make the songs shorter, not at all. In fact, this work also feels a bit more ambitious than their opera prima particularly in terms of songwriting, which indeed had an impact on the length of the songs.
It’s not that punk and rock music have very complex harmonies at all, but Kvelertak managed to write such effective and rich guitar arrangements —there’s more than one three guitars moment here— that some songs feel truly psychedelic. I have to acknowledge it, they did catch me when listening to it.
Now, there’s vocals, and while they were one of the most distinguishable metal elements in their first work, here what you get is a combination of harsh vocal work hardly resembling black metal anymore, clean chorus and shouts that definitely work for the punk effect of this album.
All in all, “Meir” feels as though it had been recorded by a fully accomplished metal band trying not to play metal at all. The result? A pretty heavy punk-rock album with a masterful guitar work and thorough songwriting. At the end of the day, you cannot hide what’s within you musically, can you? Even if you’re trying to give birth to the yellow metal sub-genre. Cheers.
- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Roadrunner Records
- Website: www.kvelertak.com
- Band
- Erlend Hjelvik: vocals
- Maciek Ofstad: guitars
- Bjarte Lund Rolland: guitars
- Vidar Landa: guitars
- Marvin Nygaard: bass
- Kjetil Gjermundrød: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Åpenbaring
- 02. Spring fra livet
- 03. Trepan
- 04. Bruane brenn
- 05. Evig vandrar
- 06. Snilepisk
- 07. Månelyst
- 08. Nekrokosmos
- 09. Undertro
- 10. Tordenbrak
- 11. Kvelertak
