ÅRABROT: OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT
ALBUM REVIEW: We get ears-on with Årabrot's joyously dark, beautiful and anthemic 2023 LP Of Darkness and Light; another fiendishly brilliant album that seems to have been inexplicably passed over.
ÅRABROT: OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT
PELAGIC RECORDS
2023
Cards on the table - I could try really hard to offer an unbiased opinion of Årabrot’s Of Darkness and Light LP from last year, but in all honesty, I would fail miserably.
They are band that have captivated me since 2011/12 when I started buying records again and finally gave up on my CDs. Mere vessels for music; I yearned for the precious wax of yesteryear and all the additional satisfaction that that provides.
I was archiving all my vinyl Amrep releases and realised that what was once found in the “Post Hardcore” bins was now referred to as “Noise Rock”, and that there was a bubbling scene of like-minded bands, just like the old days, building up grassroots followings away from the cynical leer of the press and the faddish general public. Quality bands, carrying on regardless, that I’d missed out on somehow before records brought me back to the sounds I was weened on.
It turned out, that of the numerous “Ten Noise Rock Bands You Need To Know About” articles I unearthed on the interwebs, this weirdly named band, Årabrot ,were getting consistently mentioned. I was concerned at first that their monicker had facist roots. Fear not - it’s actually the name of a rubbish tip in their hometown, Haugesund, in Norway.
Stand down, soldier.
Their most recent release at the time was the amusingly titled Solar Anus. I tracked down a copy and promptly flipped my lid.
As time passed, I snapped up their back catalogue and anything new they released. I found that, astonishingly, I had discovered a band whose entire discography was incredible.
I love it when that happens.
With each successive release and opportunity I took to see them live, they grew and tightened up. They became more visual, more engaging and, as that happened, each time I saw them I became more and more confused as to why they weren’t massive.
Sure - they won a Norwegian Grammy for Solar Anus - but outside their home country they were playing in pissy little clubs to pissy little audiences when, by rights, they should be playing to - if not stadiums of hungry fans - a congregation of at least a few hundred every night, attracted to the deafening guitars and the Gira/Cave influences of frontman Kjetil Nernes.
I still don’t get it. The Gospel, Who Do You Love and Norwegian Gothic, the three LPs they released between 2016 and 2021, accelerated the band towards a credible accessibility that should have a really broad appeal - to punks, metallers, noise rockers and even grunge fans.
If you haven’t listened to any of those LPs up to this point, do yourself a favour and do so now.
Here’s a link to Of Darkness and Light, but from there investigate the back catalogue.
You won’t be disappointed.
Until Of Darkness and Light, the band had a fairly conventional lineup, centred around married couple Kjetil Nernes and Karin Parks, but with this album it’s just those two and a drummer, Magnus Nymo. Like a grainy and grim Sonny and Cher, they have constructed immaculate compositions; songs that are both triumphant and raging, personal, apocalyptic and fiendishly addictive.
There are earworms on here that will nag your cochlea for weeks.
Events begin in style with Hangman’s House - and I don’t want to say it’s the best track on the album because we’re only one song in - but it is a dangerous opener. It sets a standard that’s hard to follow - but one which, of course the band meet - and exceed. Lyrically its refrain is the earworm: “I’m a fool to raise my voice and cry for rope in a Hangman’s House.” Genius.
The craft of the song is amazing. It feels like the culmination of everything learned in a 20 year career packed into a single song.
The next stand out track is the bizarre pop of the third song “Horrors of the Past” which introduces a sickeningly gnawing doubletap of the drums throughout the chorus, convincingly relaxed and -well - winsome - until you realise that Kjetil’s lyrics, expressed in a Robert Smith influenced cry - are suggesting an Evil Dead style massacre of his memories.
The keys-driven anthemic Madness began as being one step too far when I first listened to the album. It’s got a twisted 80s flourish to it that is slightly nauseating.
BUT…
See them play it live and it soars like a comet, lifting you up, forgetting your woes and suddenly becomes the darkest singalong anthem you never knew you needed, as it literally narrates the collapse of sanity as the world falls apart in an apocalyptic vision to rival Revelations. To a perfect pop soundtrack.
It becomes fucking marvelous. One of the best turnarounds I’ve ever experienced.
But it doesn’t stop there. The hits keep coming. One after the other - so incessantly catchy, heavy and dark that the opening line of Cathedral Light could be the line of the album that makes the most sense and tells the wildest truth: “I am Lucifer. I stretch rainbows across your soul.”
It’s exactly what Of Darkness and Light does - it makes you succumb to the beauty of the rainbows of the melodies - without realising that they are being cast by a sinister darkness so deep you may never find your way back out to the light.
The song drops out in the middle for Karin Park’s sample and pitch-shifted voice to chant “Fuck Yeah…” repeatedly before it comes crashing back in - her cue, live, to stage dive and cause chaos with crowd. They are both compelling to watch live, but try taking your eyes off her as she leaps the stage and slams the keyboard as Kjetil stoically continues his work.
It’s great.
Next up is the pounding We Want Blood which effortlessly makes an entire audience bounce like they’re 15 again in a gig situation.
A mid-Side Two highlight, Skeletons Tripping The Light Fantastic, does a really good job of becoming the signature song of the album, with its totally random opening line: “I eat pistachios - it leaves a mouldy taste in my mouth”. As much as I enjoy a crack and a nibble of said kernels, I know exactly what Kjetil means - and as the chorus releases its compulsive melody, the absorbing sincerity of its delivery dismisses any notion of levity, as we see the shadows of skeletons dancing across Kjetil’s wall as clearly as he does.
My gatefold grey and pink splatter edition came straight from Pelagic. The pressing is great. The songs sound dense and clear - far stronger on vinyl than they do digitally. The packaging is lush; all black and white photography with a single fleshy pink accent colour in the design. It oozes physical quality. All their releases do.
If you take one thing away from this Bulletin, just let it be that Årabrot are on your radar now. Their discography is so rich that it feels a shame for so many people to be missing out on it.
If you want abrasion, it’s there. Everything up to and including Solar Anus is some of the best Noise Rock on the planet.
If you want deep intensity with a toe being dipped into a more commercial sound, the anthems that are introduced from The Gospel onwards won’t disappoint.
If you want an immaculate sounding, huge and unputdownable gothic, rocking earworming masterpiece, get into Of Darkness and Light.
Whichever aspect takes your fancy - and there will be a few - make sure to see them live. Travel near, travel far, but see them. Årabrot are unifying, unforgettable, kinetic and celebratory.
WHY AREN’T THEY HUGE?
Thanks for this great finding!
Why aren’t they huge??? Love the Church of Rock & Roll 🖖🏻