ARABROT - The Gospel

Now on their seventh studio chapter, the Norwegian band sharpen their weapons for their most ambitious and elaborate project yet, once again produced and recorded by Steve Albini at his Electrical Studios.

The cast of musicians involved in the unexpected and engaging eclecticism of "The Gospel" is remarkable: Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), Andrew Liles (Current 93, Nurse With Wound) and Ted Parsons (ex-Swans and Killing Joke, now a member of Prong).

Årabrot have shaped an album that stands like a shining, kubrickianly enigmatic monolith, thanks to an emotional and creative whole that sounds now knotty and roughly interwoven, now velvety and rich with gripping contrasts.

The Norwegians proudly display their arsenal of heavy metals and sinewy din, indifferent to stylistic confusion and the inevitable catharsis — the latter a delicious result of a dramatic sonic staging that never abandons the savage ferocity of black metal and hardcore punk, reinforcing the band's most histrionic and corrosive elements (just listen to the ending of the title track).

Equally palpable is the tormented genesis of the album, conceived by Kjetil Nernes during his post-operative recovery from surgery to remove a malignant form of cancer; the almost evangelical identification with the lone knight fighting against evil (the absolute protagonist of the lyrics) thus takes on considerable symbolic weight.

Despite its more intimate and personal nature, "The Gospel" is oddly the album where the contribution of outside musicians feels most significant: just the first few minutes are enough to savor the robust injection of Killing Joke-style rhythms, or to burrow into the dark, cryptic, Swans-like weave of "I Run".

The overall tone is more epic and refined, steeped in riffs and harmonic ideas that reach their sublimation across the ten brave, daring doom digression of "Faustus", before dripping with despair and pain all the way to the final release ("Rebekka").

The new Årabrot album is unquestionably the most malleable of their output, so it's only natural that the references and affinities are more varied: Melvins, Nick Cave, Swans, This Heat, Coil, Afghan Whigs and Television are some of the likely reference points that may surface while listening to "The Gospel", though without this undermining the quality and admirable character of the whole.

The Norwegian band Årabrot have crafted the most intense and varied album of their career as noise-rockers, and it's a delightful triumph.

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31/03/2016