Kvelertak & Mantar

Kvelertak is the gold standard in punked-up, black metal-adjacent, classic rock-worshipping extreme music. The band described by Revolver as “blackened rock and roll party beasts,” with their triple-guitar harmonies and heaps of lyrics written in their native Norwegian, is truly unlike any other.

Songs like “Crack of Doom,” “Bråtebrann,” “1985,” “Mjød,” and “Blodtørst” are modern metal classics. In contrast with the self-seriousness of many contemporaries, Kvelertak's music is fierce and fun. Tracks summoned on their brilliant new album, Endling, will undoubtedly become as beloved, from “Krøterveg te helvete” to “Skoggangr,” “Svart September” to the album’s astounding title track.

Kvelertak arms themselves with massive riffs, punk rock attitude and energy, and black metal ferocity. Hailing primarily from Rogaland, which borders the North Sea, the six men of Kvelertak (Norwegian for “stranglehold”) conjure a double dose of urgent power from their countrymen, from the frosty primitive black metal Darkthrone to the unhinged debauchery of Turbonegro. Their robust five albums deep catalog defies easy categorization, shifting briskly between subgenres with revelry.

The band’s tour history reads like a roll call of heavy metal royalty. They supported Iron Maiden and Foo Fighters in Norway and toured with Slayer and Ghost. James Hetfield turned up at one of the band’s shows in San Francisco, California. Soon, Metallica took them on the WorldWired Tour, including a historic gig at London’s 02 Arena in 2017 which broke the venue’s attendance record.

Each album reliably lands in year-end “best of” lists, from Decibel to the Village Voice. A decade after its release, Kerrang! ranked the band’s debut alongside Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, and Deftones among the essential records from 2010. Endling, the fifth full-length record from Kvelertak, arrives in 2023 with a thunderous purpose. Drawing deeply from local traditions and folklore of the non-fantasy variety, the evocative songs tell spellbinding stories of elemental wonder.

“On Endling, we tell the stories of the extinct and dying men and women of Norway,” explains guitarist and cofounder Vidar Landa. “Old and new myths, culture, and rituals come to life – the folklore that doesn’t fit a TV series concept. Vikings and trolls are for television. This is the real deal.”

The band tracked most of the songs live in the studio, and only one to a click, resulting in a raw and organic feel. The riffs and tones are as varied as Kvelertak’s audience will expect, with crackling immediacy and spirit throughout. There’s also new instrumentation, like piano and synthesizer, layered via overdubs. Endling is at once the band’s most straightforward and ambitious work yet.

Kvelertak made most of their records with Converge guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou at the helm. Covid restrictions prevented the band from traveling to America this time, so Landa, cofounders Bjarte Lund Rolland (guitar) and Marvin Nygaard (bass), longtime guitarist Maciek Ofstad, frontman Ivar Nikolaisen, and drummer Håvard Takle Ohr (who joined in 2019), made Endling in Norway.

Kvelertak as an entity stretches back to 2007 and the release of their demo, Westcoast Holocaust. A reputation as a Stooges-worthy live act landed them a record deal. Their self-titled debut hit No. 3 on the Norwegian charts and lingered in the Top 20 for months. In 2011, they won two Spellemannprisen Awards (not unlike the American Grammy). In 2013, Meir became the band’s first No. 1 album in Norway. Kvelertak toured with Metallica in Europe and with Ghost in support of 2016’s Nattesferd.

A friend of the band since the beginning, who guested on the first album, Nikolaisen lived in relative isolation in the woods in Nordmarka when Kvelertak recruited him to take over as frontman in 2018. Splid, which introduced both Nikolaisen and Ohr, debuted at No. 1 in Norway. It made year-end album lists in Consequence Of Sound, Loudwire, and Metal Hammer, among other publications.

During the pandemic, fans in 53 countries watched the spectacular Live from Artilleriverkstedet livestream in 2020, which later aired in primetime on Norway’s biggest TV channel, NRK.

“I learned to prepare myself for the worst mentally,” Nikolaisen says of lessons from making Splid, conceding that the well-documented volatility within the band continues to threaten its long-term existence. “But I also learned that I could trust the guys when it comes to being brilliant musicians.”

They hashed out the new songs in a “hole in the wall” biker club, where the owner’s 16-year-old blind border collie would crap on the floor each morning before they rehearsed. Like the almost legendary triple-guitar attack of the band, Endling boasts the talents of three producers: Jørgen Træen, Yngve Sætre, and Iver Sandøy, each of them accomplished as producers and as musicians themselves.

“You may wonder why we needed three producers,” Nikolaisen explains. “I’m telling you, the mood in the room is always very intense and sometimes even violent when it comes to Kvelertak. The producers each need to take a break once in a while. We’re too much to handle for just one person.”

The album brims with catchy, straight-to-the-point hard rock tunes. But in terms of instrumentation, production, and storytelling, Kvelertak paints with broad strokes of ambition and confidence. Since the release of the incredibly well-received Splid in 2020, there have been many crises in the band’s part of the world. Rather than sing about them, Kvelertak set out to create an immersive type of escapism. The lyrics are all in Norwegian, but an English introduction accompanies each song.

“We started looking into our local history more with Splid rather than repeating the oversold stories from classic Norse mythology,” Landa explains. “We spent the last couple of years walking in the mountains, hanging out in rural villages and libraries, looking for the true stories of our past and present. At a time when the outside world was closed to us, we traveled within our own country’s borders and our minds. What we found both scared and entertained us, and we turned those stories into the lyrical backbone of this album. Some of these voices are aggressive, with a bleak outlook on modern society, while others are nostalgic. Not long ago, we celebrated death (Likvoke) on these shores. To be near the dead physically better prepared our bodies and minds for the change.”

If the band itself is headed for “the change,” it isn’t evident in the music. Kvelertak sounds bigger and more creative than ever, even if this period remains as unpredictable as every other. “Kvelertak is an ‘Endling’ in itself, the last of our kind,” Landa observes. “About to break up and disappear at any given moment, total collapse and catastrophe are always right around the corner. But for now, we’re still here. Like a constant supernova at its most destructive and brightest. We’ve never been better!”