Kvelertak - Kvelertak (2010) - Too many cooks broil the broth - 60% (03/09/11)

Welcome to a new unjustified hype. Somebody told me about this new band from Norway on a forum as he had himself got the advice from somebody else to check this group out. I suggested the guy who introduced me to this band that we should sue his predecessor and underlined the fact that we would win the process by storm with some good attorneys. On a more serious note, let's say that this pseudo-avant-garde band with some weird but intriguing cover artworks is not at all as good as you might expect after hearing their concept.

They are the first band known to me that mix black metal with hard rock and a lot of punk influences to many short straight forward tracks. That's the first time that black metal sounds like alternative party music that could play in any underground rock club. Many songs are somewhat catchy due to their short length and quite repetitive structure. These guys know how to kick off a potential hype and a few underground hit singles. This ascertainment is at least quite original and I must give this point to the band. They are courageous and try out some new and fresh things.

But the positive analysis stops here. Black metal and punk rock just don't fit together as those guys would like to make us know. It's too superficial, short and straight forward for a black metal fan and too aggressive, dark and unholy for a simple punk rock maniac. For party music people, there are a lot of better bands to find in diverse genres that come especially from Scandinavia. Those who like noisy, dirty and straight rock and roll should still stick to Motörhead and Company after all these years. The discordant alternative sounds remind me of Muse or experimental Puddle Of Mudd and make the listening experience even weirder for me as this component fits even less with the rest than the strange composure I had to mention before.

In the end, imagine you Motörhead an early Ramones with some Finntroll sing along passages, blackened shrieks and alternative rock worship passages. While I like most of the mentioned bands quite a lot I don't like to see them put into one weird potpourri with a length of four or five minutes. Sometimes, too much feels like if it was just not enough. The boring and overlong "Nekroskop" and the overwhelming "Liktorn" is a great example for a song that mixes at least four or five genres into one song and even though there is a high amount of creativity the final result sounds like nothing concrete and goes nowhere. Too many cooks spoil the broth. I mean I like lasagne, souvlaki and king's crabs and I could create three excellent meals with those ingredients but I would surely not create a single one with those ingredients that would make any glimpse of a sense. The worst things on this record are probably the blackened vocals that remind me of Bullet For my Valentine, Trivium, Machine Head and other mallcore failures. Yes, it's that bad.

Apart of those descriptive facts, almost all songs sound similar and this record has a lack of surprising moments, innovating passages or a gripping atmosphere once you have listened to the first song that may still take you by surprise with its brand new style. The short tracks all sound the same and kick the album off in a rather disappointing way after all. Towards the middle of the record, some tracks show some variation and talent, especially the longer tracks as the album highlight and epic melodic party rocker "Sultans Of Satan" or the more experimental closing grower "Utrydd Dei Svake". I suggest you to try these two amazing experiments out but must warn you that they clearly consist of a minority on this mediocre record. Maybe one should download them and just skip the rest of the album.

I didn't get a good touch to this experiment even if I am generally favourable towards a mixture of genres, fresh ideas and some courageous innovation. The parts are better than the sum in here and the potpourri is just too acid for me and gives me bad headaches. The music surely works a lot better on stage and has some energizing moments and a better degree of continuity, coherence and atmosphere but most of the studio versions are so diversified that they sound superficial, overwhelming and inconsistent. But as the band tried out something new and has some potential and a few great moments, my final rating is not going to be too rude this time and I may keep an eye on those guys.