The one and only time I saw GBZ was in a London pub basement a touch over six years ago and they blew the place a part. Then they were pushing their second and possibly finest album Hadeland Hardcore and as fantastic as they were that night, no one in that room would ever have thought that the press release for album number five, Research And Destroy would begin –
“The NEW ALBUM from the Kings of Scandipunk! Fronted by singer Ivar Nikolaisen from KVELERTAK!! “
It’s just bonkers!!!
These Norwegian punk rock terrors’ sound snuggles somewhere in the same ball park as fellow country men Turbonegro (both bands feature ex-members of Norwegian glamsters Silver) but with a far more aggressive and abrasive edge. Perhaps with album number five some of this jagged, raw hate has been polished away to appeal to the Kvelertak fan base, it’s still hard and heavy but maybe not as raw and hungry as the aforementioned Hadeland Hardcore or even it’s follow up Misanthropical House but it’s still a fine12” slab of plastic that’ll sit deservedly in your top ten of 2022.
First up ‘What’s My Rage Again?’ Spends a good minute building up and up and up in full metal guitar grandeur before launching into a spite-filled bombastic banger. Maybe it gets a bit Maiden-esque in places but it’s a great place to start.
Hot on its heels comes ‘Song For A Prepper’, another great tune with another long intro. Less aggressive than previous stuff and maybe a nod to the expanded Kvelertak audience
Third up, ‘Bridge and Tunnel Guy’ gets its own video and is a fine balance of aggression and hooks.
‘The PKA Took My Money Away’ is far less metal than its predecessors and is by far my favourite tune so far. This feels like the most GBZ-like song so far.
‘Nostradumbass’ carries on the mid-album hump for me, a fine mid-paced tune not a million miles from Ivar’s previous band Silver. There’s a video for this bad boy too.
While ‘Diet 1-2-3′, may lean a little to Backyard Babies territory (not a bad thing at all), ‘The Power of Beer’ is the kind of GBZ banger that ‘Research And Destroy’ has been a little light on.
‘One-Dimensional Man’ is a nasty pop song and boasts one of the strongest choruses on offer. I guess Fysisk Format agrees too because there’s a video for it.
The penultimate track ‘The Original Incel’ is another banger. GBZ to the max, while closer ‘Here Come The Waterworks’ is a far more sedate affair. Decent enough, but like several of the tracks that have gone before it, maybe a bit too much of an offering to their expanding metal audience. But hey, good luck to them.
So there you have it. Ten tracks in just over half an hour, long enough to love but not quite enough to blow you away.
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Author: Fraser Munro
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