Kvelertak - Meir

Published March 27 2013

*=Staff's pick	Åpenbaring Spring Fra Livet Trepan Bruane Brenn* Evig Vandrar Snilepisk Månelyst Nekrokosmos Undertro Tordenbrak* Kvelertak

Genre	Hardcore/Black Metal	Erlend Hjelvik	Vocals
Tracks	11	Maciek Ofstad	Guitar
Running time	49 Min.	Bjarte Lund Rolland	Guitar
Label	Roadrunner Records	Vidar Landa	Guitar
Release	26 March 2013	Marvin Nygaard	Bass
Country	Norway	Kjetil Gjermundrød	Drums
Producer	Kurt Ballou
Similar artists	---

With their unique mix of black metal, hardrock, punk and hardcore, Kvelertak's self-titled debut album was a breath of fresh air when it was released three years ago. They sound like the perfect mix between Turbonegro, Satyricon and Raised Fist and I've been waiting for this album, eager to hear if they'll keep the momentum from the first album going.

It starts off promising, with the intro to Åpenbaring where they start playing with one guitar, then adding the second and then the third. This shows off how powerful three guitars can be, giving an incredibly strong and complete sound. However, Meir falls short in the areas where the debut album had its greatest strengths, i.e. in powerful songs that stuck in your head the moment you first heard them. While the songs are diverse most of them are actually pretty underwhelming, with a few exceptions such as Bruane Brenn and Tordenbrak.

The production leaves a lot to be desired, as well. It certainly is okay but again, compared with the debut album it sounds weak and dull, as if the music is playing from behind a very thin wall. While I have no big remarks regarding performance, originality or vocals my final grade stays at a four out of ten, held back by the actual songs which don't match the expectations I had.