I’m writing about this album for five reasons.

FIRST:  This Norwegian band’s name is Whip. Not too long ago I wrote a post about the importance of band names. I included the opinion that the best metal band names are generally one-word names — though it sometimes seems that all the really good ones have been taken. And then I found out about Whip. That’s a fuckin’ great one-word name.

SECOND: The album is named Digitus Impudicus. Not being a Latin scholar, I ran that name through a Google search and discovered (via The Font of All Human Knowledge) that it means the “shameless, indecent or offensive finger” — you know, the middle one sticking straight up. I had no idea that giving someone the finger is a practice that dated back to ancient times, but so it is. That’s a fuckin’ great name for a metal album.

THIRD: This album was released by Polypus Records, which turns out to be an artist-owned label (started by Whip’s vocalist/guitarist Jens “Sturt” Johansen and some friends) that’s affiliated with an association of 11 bands named Bjølsebubben Kulturforening; the bands share rehearsal space and a common recording studio located in an old factory building in Oslo. As Sturt explained in an interview, the decision was made “that we have to take control of our music as the music business is out drunk-cruising between icebergs.” Continue reading »