NORWAY’S DUNDERBEIST: U JAM?

I’m an unlikely fan of Dunderbeist’s Black Hearts & Crooked Tails for two reasons: Bands whose members dress up exactly alike can be great, but the whole thing embarrasses me lol. It just feels weird. Of course, it makes sense for a crappy band to go strong on the visuals, but Dunderbeist’s jamz don’t need help. They rage hard.

Okay but the other thing that Dunderbeist must overcome: Black Hearts‘ melodies are mostly awesome, but singer Torgrim Torve gets veiny and yar-yarrr like he’s auditioning for a Godsmack-Shinedown side project. In quieter moments, Torve has pinches of Mike Patton quirk and Serj Tankian flair, but that might just be y’know being German Norwegian. Basically, Black Hearts is queasily close to FM radio rock, but unsinkable anyway. What u think?

-ADF

Dunderbeist’s Black Hearts & Crooked Tails just came out last week. Get it here.