(written by Islander)
“Fans of Tragedy, Skitsystem, From Ashes Rise, and Sibiir will find themselves right at home in the storm: crushing riffs, pulverizing d-beats, and an atmosphere so suffocatingly dark it feels like the world collapsing in real time. This is the soundtrack to disorder, decay, and the slow grind toward oblivion.”
That’s the daunting (and enticing) shorthand pitch offered on behalf of Fysisk Format Records for the debut album of the Norwegian band Uaar. In line with the description above, the album’s name is Galger og brann — Norwegian for Gallows and Fire. What we have for you today is the video premiere of the album’s first single, “Galgeås“. Here’s how Uaar introduce it:
“Galgeås” (Gallows Hill) is a song that describes the meaninglessness of it all. Everything we have built, learned and achieved, everyone we have loved, made plans and lived with, means nothing when the dark days come and burn everything down. Life has been wasted and what we have accomplished is already forgotten.
The hill full of gallows represents all the lives that have been lived and forgotten, and stands as an eternal symbol of the lives that did not matter.
Those are very bleak sentiments, but there’s anger in the words too — and the song itself channels both moods.
The fury comes through in the raw, scorching, wide-eyed intensity of the vocals and the slashing and broiling guitars. The bleakness is manifest in the grim weight of the gut-slugging bass lines and the bone-bruising impact of the drum strikes.
The song’s visceral force is undeniable; it’s going to make heads move and muscles throb. The rage also boils over in a vertebrae-cracking, d-beat-driven attack of boiling blackened riffage that savages and screams. But after the bowel-loosening bass gets a few moments to clang out front, the song breaks down in a way that sounds catastrophic.
As a representation of Uaar‘s delivery of punishing and incendiary d-beat hardcore Hell, it’s an excellent song. The video is also excellent. Though it’s a bit claustrophobic to watch these people in such a cramped space, it reflects that the performance is as intense as the music itself. All that’s missing is a sweaty crowd violently moshing.
UAAR is:
Dag Schaug Carlsen: Vocals
Truls Friesl Berg: Drums
Erik Berg Friesl: Guitar
Stian S. Evensen: Bass
Jon Schaug Carlsen: Guitar
Galger og Brann was written and produced by Jon Schaug Carlsen and Uaar. Fysisk Format will release it on on vinyl and digital formats on October 17th.
PRE-ORDER:
https://fysiskformat.no/releases/997410-galger-og-brann
https://uaar.bandcamp.com/album/galger-og-brann
UAAR:
https://linktr.ee/uaar.hc
https://ffm.to/galgerogbrann
https://www.facebook.com/UaarHeavy
FYSISK FORMAT:
https://fysiskformat.no
https://www.facebook.com/fysiskformat
https://www.instagram.com/fysiskformat