Norway is famous for its wide variety of musical acts and although it’s undoubtedly most famous for being home to the Black Metal scene it also produced the pioneers of ‘Deathpunnk’, Turbonegro. Over the years many bands have taken inspiration from the group and ran with it some more like the aforementioned than others but all paying tribute one way or another. Sorgen appear to be one of those bands. The Oslo based punks have just released their self-titled debut album and it’s a fantastic first effort as they have clearly nailed the style and song format they were aiming for.
Beginning with a rather eerie opening instrumental track of tribal drums and what can only be described as chanting Gregorian monks what follows is the complete polar opposite as an incredibly catchy guitar tune layered over a jaw dropping bass riff kick off and set the overall tone for the record. As soon as the howling vocals start it becomes clear that they’re all in the group’s native mother tongue rather than English. A ballsy move as it can often limit your audience but from the general aesthetic, the album artwork and musical styles explored on this record it’s clear Sorgen couldn’t care less about appeal. ‘Morten Abel’ is a perfect example as not only is it catchy as hell but regardless of whether or not you speak Norwegian, the call and response verses and vocal melodies of the chorus will have you singing along immediately.
‘Kung Fu Knarken’ instantly switches things up with its groovy bass lines throughout the verses as the singer proves he can sing cleanly as well as wail in the vain of Agnostic Front’s Roger Miret. The chorus goes straight back to the balls to the wall fast and aggressive delivery which is at times almost reminiscent of some of the pre Wade, Gallows tracks.
The fourth song on the album ‘Jenter’ is an acoustic track that sounds very traditional in terms of Scandinavian folk music. The vocals sound and feel as though they’ve been plucked from one of the Viking songs of old similar to those of Einar Selvik from Wardruna.
‘Penn & Treet’ and ‘Sosial Angst’ are both much more experimental in their approach with the latter starting off slow and acoustically driven before reverting to the powerful bass riffs and high velocity guitars which is then followed by the use of gang chants that only boost the energy levels even higher. Both these tracks have one big similarity though and that’s that they both seem to be songs where the guitarists have been given their time to shine and show off by ripping through some solos and instrumentation that could make Jimmy Page blush.
To close out the album Sorgen have chosen a cover song, ‘Dridas Igjen’ which is a pretty daring move considering this is their debut and especially as it’s a cover of Turbonegro’s ‘Wasted Again’. Not only have Sorgen decided to cover and pay homage to their native peers but they’ve decided to translate the English lyrics back into Norwegian, a massive two fingers up to the age old theory of singing in English for mass appeal.
On the first listen to the record it’s easy to become worried that Sorgen could just become another Turbo-clone and lose all individuality but after hearing the album again and breaking it down it’s clear they’re very different as well as being very similar. Sorgen have proved that they have enough of their own identity to stand out from the rest and it will be interesting to see where they go next and what other ideas and elements they will bring to the Deathpunk / Death & Roll sound. SKOL!
JAMES DAVENPORT