Soaring atmospheric metal mixed with Post-Hardcore vibes through the vocals, sludgy riffs, and relentless rhythm section: Here is the highly anticipated debut album from ARV.
Although based in Norway´s musical melting pot capital, Oslo, some members bring a sense of desolate heaviness from Norway´s northern parts. The band consists of seasoned musicians who have been members of different bands; readers of these pages might remember Kollwitz from Bodø. But also bands like the hardcore band Jack Dalton and the heavy stoner band Day of the Jackalope. They blend their musical visions in the music of their new band ARV, which was formed in 2021 and released an EP in 2023. Now here they are debuting with a cascading full-length.
The album opens with the weighty “Judgement“. The riffs are tight and in sync with the rhythm section. The instruments part ways and widen the sonic space as distorted guitars are creating the song´s theme soaring above the solid beat rhythm factory, and hoarse growls enter the soundscape. Rumbling bass holds the fort while drumsticks fly over the drumset and make for an energetic musical experience, as the drummer shifts between relentless pounding and delivering the pace. The song has, like the other ones on the album, shifts and turns, opening up the sonics and closing them again. The guitars fly, swirl, and riff in the textured musical flow supporting the energetic vocals.
In this kind of music, it is often the guitars and vocals that we notice first of all, and throughout the whole musical experience, the album or gig brings us. Here, the guitarists use the whole range from dense melodic or also soaring higher-pitched riffs, tremolo effects, and relentless chugging. The vocalist is all over the growling and screaming place with immense power and emotion. But the band´s rhythm section sometimes defines the sound of the ensemble. Here, the bass is undulating, rumbling, and laying down a solid foundation for the other instruments to dance on. And the drums are beyond impressive. In most tracks, like the first and also in the second, “Forsaken“, the drumming is diverse and ever-engaging. It sometimes feels like there is a drum solo happening within the compact layers of the musical flow. All this while at the same time keeping the rhythm intact with the bass guitar. It brings a sense of hurried, impatient, and energetic pace to the band´s take on atmospheric Metal.
The second track, “Forsaken“, opens with a tighter sound than the first at enormous speed with the drums as an energetic driving force pushing the distorted music forward until a shift where the music opens up to a more melodic part. It is captive and embracing the vocals. The song captivates the listener through the changes between tight and open sonics and at the end, there is a sudden shift - the song goes heavier with guitars panning the riffs out before an abrupt end.
Rugged chugging opens “Neglect“ before a release is letting out, and the instruments pan out with tight rhythms and guitars playing on higher pitched chords as desperate hoarse growls immerse themselves in the sonics. The music cools down with longer takes, and a melodic guitar stretches out before it tightens back to a rhythmically dense, fast music that shifts from vocals to swirling higher-pitched guitars with relentless drumming and rumbling bass. The elongated takes returns in the end until it fades away.
The album´s music is cascading forward with “Wrath“ that is opened by bass and guitar before powerful drumming takes the lead and drives the song forward at high speed. A melodic line is formed and repeated, the track tightens before an abrupt halt with only horse vocals before fusing back together. The song swells and ebbs before it opens up with clearer guitars, low-end bass, and pushing drums. The flow becomes slightly dissonant as if it races toward the end, shoved forward by the drums and the desperate growls.
“Victim“, “Perish“ and “Failure“ follow in close order with torrential Atmospheric Sludge. It is relentless, but like all good Sludge songs, it has shifts and turns with pleasant breathers in between. On the chugging and hard “Victim“, there is a halt with swirling distorted guitars and blast beats at a slower pace while the guitars shift into fuzzy tremolos, slowly forming a melody, that has a lot of ebb and flow. It sounds as if the song holds its breath before it takes a deep breath, relaxes and spreads out for a short time until it all comes back together, tighter than before as it swells up to a point where a higher-pitched guitar rises above the dense sonics, tightened by the drums and bass. “Failure“ has a soothing part provided by a fuzzy guitar strumming along. A massive floor drum rumbles below, slow-paced. Suddenly it swells into atmospheric surging sonics with massive guitars, feisty drumming, and pushing bass supporting hoarse screams from the vocalist.
The album´s closer is also the title song that sums up all the predecessors with mesmerizing and textured guitar lines turning and surging with a contrasting blasting bass drum and a slower rhythm by the tom-toms. Towards the end, there is a shift and the guitars become heavier before repeating its opening theme, with an atmospheric yet blasting section. The melody is seeping from the guitars as the music flows forward to the end and then fades away with one single final chord echoing in our ears.
So, does the album catch the Zeitgeist? Definitely. The fierce and hurried music with reflective parts has a sense of a fight against the dying of light. Just look at the song titles, with the title of the last song providing some hope.
