LP Review: I Am Heavy Metal, Who Are You? by Omar

Before the ensuing sounds get you really excited to go out to a show to party  with these stoner punks, we have to clarify one thing for you, Swedish band Omar are no longer a band, in fact they haven’t been a band since 2008, but yet here we have their debut record...let us explain. I Am Heavy Metal, Who Are You? Was recorded between 2006/07 and the band decided to call it a day the following year without ever having released their debut for anyone to hear, well except for a few people, one of those being Claus Wrang Michaelsen, owner of Danish label Accelerator Records, who has had the fire in his belly to get this record to see the light of day, and now in 2015, we all get to hear the fruits of his labour (more eventful circumstances surrounding this record include all the first pressings being stolen along with a van from the label’s offices: a big cost for a small label).

  
So after all of the effort, time, and expense, is Omar’s long long LONG awaited release worth it? Hell Yes! is the simplest way to put it. Opening with the frenetic ‘Rock Strongo’, Omar start fast and stay fast with their brand of stoner/punk/grunge coursing between your ears. It’s a fresh exciting sound, full of youthful urgency to burn out rather than fade away. There are influences from QOTSA and Monster Magnet apparent throughout the record with Erik Carling’s vocals venturing on the gentler side of the stoner spectrum. The chugging riffs and energetic atmosphere of the band’s playing echoes throughout as highlights of ‘Bring It On’, ‘Spawn Of Daybreak’, and ‘Night Of The Freaks’ make, well, would have made, Omar a band to get seriously excited about as they bring a much needed freshness to the stoner scene.

   
 I Am Heavy Metal, Who Are You? Is a record which has been made available through a driving passion which only music lovers would ever really understand. The effort to get this record brought to the surface is commendable and needs respecting, but the credit ultimately belongs to the band who have created a fantastic cross-over record bringing in all of the right parts of stoner/punk/grunge (and even a theremin). As the final song fades out, a sadness does fall over you as you realise that you won’t get to see these guys on your local stage kicking ass, but if we enjoy what they’ve left behind, we can still have a hell of a good time.

I Am Heavy Metal, Who Are You? will be released on vinyl and download from Accelerator Records/Walden records.

Bandcamp

LP Review: 'Hjortene' by Hjortene

Ahh genre labels, where would we be without them? What better ways are there to not just include bands into your listening circles by labelling them under the same genre or sub-genre as your listening tastes, but also to exclude any bands from ever giving them a listen? It seems a long time ago when there were merely just pop/rock categories down your local music store, now everything has its own sub-sub-sub-grouping, just to narrow your tastes down even further. And just when you thought there were no more categories to explore, we are given stoner-punk!

None of the genre ranting has anything to do with Denmark’s finest purveyors of “stoner-punk” music however, and it’d be a shame to take the attention away from the music, as their self-titled record is pretty special. Hjortene  opens with ‘180,000 km/t’, a blistering three minute blast of punk rock fury, with vocals from Valiant Thorr’s Valiant Himself. Where the overtly punk aesthetic is clearly there, the attitude is layered with thick and fast stoner riffs which make the band standout as genre groundbreakers. It’s a sound which carries a nuance of surprise as you never can settle with the sound, not knowing if the angry punk or the soothing stoner is going to berate you next. Palle Hjort’s vocals throw the band back straight into stoner territory with ‘Igennem Hárde Tider’, a slightly subdued voice guiding the guitars into their layers of pulverising riffs.

Singing in their national tongue doesn’t affect the sound of the band to those not fluent in Danish, as the lyrics become simply another instrument to rock your fists to. Whether it’s the grooves of ‘Classic Rock FM’ or the instrumental onslaught of ‘Epic Indian’, Hjortene is a record which dresses to impress with thick waves of heavy riffage matched by a youthful urgency many try to imitate, but few address naturally. A track such as ‘James Brown’ featuring vocals from fellow Danish punk band President Fetch, sung in English, is like a wake up call to those stagnant bands on the stoner scene, to basically get there shit together and step up their game.

Forget everything. Forget labels, forget what you think you know about a sound, a genre, a style, a foreign language. Hjortene is a record which needs to be explored and divulged into completely (and with the other band members going under the names of Claus Doomhammer Hjort, and Kim of Death Hjort, how can you possibly not get on board this?).

Facebook | Website