Årabrot – Norwegian Gothic (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

I’m going to be brutally honest; until now I’ve never listened to Årabrot. Even though they have an extensive back-catalogue, clocking in at nine albums including Norwegian Gothic, they were a band that completely flew under my radar. They’ve been around for two decades, but I didn’t fully clock them. I was however aware of them. Back when I was in college, an acquaintance who hung around the post-grad office, who was always into interesting music and art, told me about Årabrot.

In describing his new favourite band to me I noticed that he didn’t really attempt to tell me about the music (apart from comparing them to Swans) but instead focused more on the dark aesthetic that lead vocalist/guitarist Kjetil Nernes conveyed. Pulling out his phone to present to me a portrait of a very serious looking man, heavily weighed down by a wide-brimmed, black, nineteenth-century vernacular hat, I shrugged; ‘Okay, cool. I’ll check them out’. I never did. Until now.

Norwegian Gothic (a play on Grant Wood’s celebrated American Gothic) is Årabrot’s latest album, releases this Friday on Pelagic Records who have rostered post-metal heavy weights Cult of Luna and Ireland’s own God is an Astronaut. When I did a little research on Årabrot, I was reminded of Nernes’ ominous black-clad portrait. ‘Oh yeah…the hat’.

Tracklist:
1-01. Årabrot – Carnival of Love (04:49)
1-02. Årabrot – The Rule of Silence (04:48)
1-03. Årabrot – Feel It On (03:20)
1-04. Årabrot – The Lie (04:03)
1-05. Årabrot – The Crows (02:24)
1-06. Årabrot – Kinks of the Heart (03:43)
1-07. Årabrot – Hailstones for Rain (04:56)
1-08. Årabrot – The Voice (00:50)
1-09. Årabrot – Hallucinational (05:00)
1-10. Årabrot – (This is) The Night (02:49)
1-11. Årabrot – Hard Love (03:20)
1-12. Årabrot – Impact Heavily onto the Concrete (01:14)
1-13. Årabrot – Hounds of Heaven (03:31)
1-14. Årabrot – Deadlock (03:34)
1-15. Årabrot – The Moon is Dead (07:12)
1-16. Årabrot – You’re Not That Special (01:15)