Exclusive Album Stream: Norna (Breach, The Old Wind) Bury You In Shadows On Star Is Way Way Is Eye

Sometimes, you just need crushing, throbbing darkness to get you through the day, and Norna are here to deliver it to you. Comprised of Swedish hardcore musician Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Swiss composers Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (Ølten), the band is only a year into their existence, and yet have already locked down a sound that’s deeply satisfying. The influences are myriad here — obviously shout-outs would be doom, sludge, and the slower moments of vengeful hardcore acts like Converge and All Pigs Must Die — but more than anything, they carry with them a powerful atmosphere of zen misanthropy. This is music for those long walks where you want the world around you to feel you bristle.

On their debut album Star Is Way Way Is Eye, Norna make a grand declaration of what they’re here to do. The record is hypnotic and ecclesiastical, providing the listener with a pulse to their own personal dread and catharsis. While moments of stillness or ambient noise break up the march, it is the album’s pneumatic forward momentum that makes it especially enjoyable. One can lose themselves in this record, absorbing it from start to finish in what feels like a snack but which leaves them as full as an entire feast of volcanic ash.

Describing the album, Liljedahl leaves listeners with this cryptic message:

“Star is way way is eye.
A higher state of consciousness, beyond vision and perception in transcendence.
Like an ocean that never returns, a mantra that become itś own entity.
We started it, but we did not create it, like a raging comet in loop the process took off by itś own hand.
With heart and mind we leave ourselves and follow.
/Norna.”

Don’t say they didn’t warn you.

Stream our exclusive premiere of Norna’s Star Is Way Way Is Eye below. The album comes out via Vinter Records, and is available for preorder.