ROSA FAENSKAP – JEG BLIR TIL DEG

(Andy Synn offers his effusive recommendation for the debut album of Norway’s Rosa Faenskap)

While common wisdom will tell you that making music isn’t a competition – in that you’re not directly trying to “beat” other bands – that assertion doesn’t necessarily tell the full story.

Make no mistake about it, being in a band means that you are, inevitably, “competing” in some way for people’s attention, for opportunities, for coverage and column inches… all of which, like it or not, are limited resources. In the end, there’s only so much of them to go around.

Case in point, while multiple outlets were quick (perhaps a little too quick) to heap praise upon Agriculture‘s self-titled album earlier this year (although my/our review was a little more critical than most) there’s been much less written about Jeg blir til deg, the certifiably unorthodox and certain-to-be-divisive debut from Norwegian trio Rosa Faenskap.

Which is a damn shame because, out of the two bands, it’s the latter who arguably deserve, and live up to, all the hype.

Again, I need to stress that there’s nothing stopping you from loving (or hating, if you’re so inclined) both the aforementioned albums equally – in fact I’d encourage anyone who enjoyed Agriculture to check this one out too, and vice versa – since this isn’t, as I’ve already stated, a competition.

It is, however, interesting to note that whereas their American counterparts have received so much attention the Norwegian three-piece have received significantly less… almost as if the wider Metal media landscape only has a limited quota for a certain type of band.

But, I suppose, that’s what we’re here for, to bring your attention to those artists we think deserve a bigger share of the spotlight, even though – as you’re about to discover – Rosa Faenskap aren’t the sort of band who spend a lot of time playing to the crowd or worrying what the audience thinks of them.

Furious opener “Livredd” immediately lays down the gauntlet for the listener, its Nachtmystium-esque blend of searing guitars and scorching vocals, hard-grooving bass-lines and spell-binding melodies, walking the line between (Post) Punk and (Post) Black Metal with the sort of outsized confidence and take-no-shit attitude that immediately gives the trio an altogether larger-than-life sound.

It’s one hell of an opening statement of intent that’s for sure, one whose more artsy leanings are kept grounded by the sheer urgency and undeniable intensity of the band’s delivery, striking a precarious and provocative balance which occasionally recalls the very best of seminal Post-Black Metal mavericks An Autumn For Crippled Children (with expansive nine-minute centrepiece “Aldri” further reinforcing these comparisons).

But “Post-Black Metal” isn’t quite the right description for Rosa Faneskap themselves, as tracks like the viscerally intense “Skjør” and “Reform”, the explosive “Paradis”, and anthemically cathartic closer “Neonlys” have more in common, musically speaking, with the likes of Martyrdöd (the latter song especially) and Young and in the Way than they do with the band’s more “atmospherically-inclined” cousins.

Hell, slap some corpse-paint and a few spiky gauntlets on the trio during the terrific title-track – whose gloomy acoustic intro soon gives way to a veritable torrent of blistering blastbeats and scything, stomping riffs – and you might well confuse them for a straight-up Black Metal band, if not for the fact that their inherently nonconformist impulses mean they can’t help but invert the formula for their own ends during the song’s second half.

It’s not perfect, I’ll grant you, but it’s still one of the best debut albums of the year, and I’m continually impressed by just how heavy – musically, lyrically, and emotionally – and how fearless, Jeg blir til deg actually is, criss-crossing boundaries and spitting in the face of conformity in a way which makes me think that Refused definitely had a band like Rosa Faenskap in mind when they predicted “the shape of punk to come”.