“Meir”, the sophomore album from Norwegian rockers KVELERTAK, sold 1,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The effort, which was issued on March 26 via Roadrunner Records, was produced byCONVERGE‘s Kurt Ballou and features cover artwork by John Dyer Baizley.
“It is both catchy and heavy; we’re pushing our limits in both ends of that spectre. It’s very varied and there are a lot of surprises in store. I mean, it’s unlike anything I myself have heard before, so we even managed to surprise ourselves,” said lead singer Erlend Hjelvik.
“Meir”‘s first single, “Bruane Brenn”, had early critical acclaim from several tastemaker outlets including Stereogum, which raved, “It’s a total blast of riffs, adrenaline, football chants, and guitar solos, and in its four minutes, you get five decades of rock ‘n’ roll, compressed into one massive speedball hit.”
KVELERTAK‘s euphorically-received self-titled 2011 debut was iTunes2011’s U.S. Metal Breakthrough Artist of The Year. Pitchfork described their sound as having “monolithic walls of adrenal-gland-strangling sound” while LA Weekly named frontman Erland Hjelvik #2 on their list of top ten metal frontmen (and women) under 30.
Overseas the band has racked up numerous accolades. KVELERTAK was called “the best Norwegian debut of all time” by Norwegian rock authorityAsbjørn Slettemark, named “Best Debut Album” by Metal HammerGermany, “Best New Artist” and “Best Rock Album” at theSpellemannprisen (Norway’s Grammy equivalent) and has received countless additional critical acclaim from Metal Hammer U.K. andKerrang! who called them “the most exciting new band on the planet.”
From storming 2011’s SXSW festival to being personally invited byMASTODON to support them in Bergen, Norway, to Dave Grohl presenting them with their first gold discs at a sold-out show at Telenor Arena, Norway’s largest indoor venue, KVELERTAK, or “chokehold” in English, are only getting started.
KVELERTAK is Erlend Hjelvik (vocals), Vidar Landa (guitars), Bjarte Lund Rolland (guitars), Maciek Ofstad (guitars), Marvin Nygaard (bass) and Kjetil Gjermundrød (drums).
“Månelyst” video: