Introducing: ROSA FAENSKAP

New Norwegian band ROSA FAENSKAP have honed a massive sound that fuses black metal, post-rock and hardcore punk with progressive and shoegaze elements. The result is a combination of music’s ugliest and prettiest elements, with the aim of concocting a cauldron of both sweet and horrifying ingredients.

The trio of Håvard (lead vocals and bass), Emil (guitar and vocals) and Anders (drums) combine hard-hitting, rapid rhythms with heavy basslines and dreamy but intense guitars, in a sound they describe as: “Listening to ROSA FAENSKAP is like walking on pink clouds, then suddenly falling into the abyss, terrified for your life.”

The three all grew up around Oslo, with Håvard and Anders going to high school together and Emil meeting Håvard at university in intriguing circumstances. As the band explains: “The first time Emil met Anders was at a grindcore concert in Oslo in 2019, where both he and Håvard were drunk as hell. Håvard and Anders got thrown out of the venue halfway through the set. Later that night Emil found Anders passed out, sitting in a public trash can, holding one half-eaten hot dog in each hand. Later, Emil sent Håvard and Anders a message, asking if they wanted to start a post-black metal band. We’ve been playing together ever since.”

Our first taste of ROSA FAENSKAP is their epic nine-minute-long debut single Aldri (which means Never) which was released in June. It opens up with light dreamy guitars and sweeping synth sounds that suddenly explode into life with a big scream, brutal drums and heavy guitars. That intensity continues in an opening verse that flows into huge stabbing guitars and staccatoed notes before another intense atmospheric section.

It continues at breakneck speed with the intoxicating heavy guitars and relentless drums for over four minutes, when the guitars slow and drop into a return of the light guitars. That lasts for around 90 seconds, before heavy guitars and a cool searing high-pitched sound take over in a delicious atmospheric section. The high-pitched sound builds towards a powerful conclusion led by more intense screamed vocals, before ending on light guitars.

The track gives us plenty to get excited about from ROSA FAENSKAP, and you can check it out in the video below:

On the track’s reception, they told us: “It’s been almost overwhelming! After our debut concert at a small punk venue in May, we already got contacted by Øyafestivalen, one of Norway’s biggest festivals. We sent them “Aldri”, and soon after we got booked to play there. A week later, we officially released the song, and the response was fantastic. I think we are reaching out to both veteran metal fans, and a much broader audience. 

“If you haven’t listened to it yet, you have a lot to look forward to. It’s a nine-minute journey through dreamy ambient landscapes and crushing, punk-inspired extreme metal.”

The trio bring a wide variety of musical influences to the table. Emil’s self-professed “chaotic” taste ranges from pop like Ariana Grande through to black metal, as well as the likes of Converge, IDLES, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, The Armed and Deafheaven. Håvard has a background in jazz and takes influence from John Coltrane and Jaco Pastorius, punk and metal, and extreme music like Emperor, Converge, Mayhem and Death. While Anders grew up on ’80s heavy metal and glam metal and doesn’t listen to much extreme music other than the ’80s metal legends, as well as Warrant, Megadeth and Avenged Sevenfold. 

And on what inspires them to write music, they tell us: “Many of our songs tackle social injustices, with themes like queerphobia, dysfunctional drug policies, economic inequality and mental health problems. Being leftist black metal fans, we want to counter the genre’s fascist, violent tendencies.”

This is the first Norwegian band we’ve listened to in a while, so we asked the guys for their thoughts on their country’s current scene. They told us: “There’s a lot of exciting things happening. We’re good friends with the band YAWN, who are bringing some truly insane (and amazing) things into the prog metal world. It was actually their drummer and their guitarist who recorded, produced and mixed Aldri.

“Generally, it feels like a lot of Norwegian bands are bringing new, unique sounds into metal, rather than strictly staying in one genre. Bands like Beaten to Death, Sibiir, Attan and Grinding Fortune are all making amazing music while blending genres.”

There’s plenty more to come from ROSA FAENSKAP, including new music and several festivals and concerts. And the band tell us: “After being severely slowed down by COVID, it feels amazing to finally show the world what we’ve been working on. We’re here, we’re three-thirds queer, we’re pissed, and we won’t disappear.”

You can follow ROSA FAENSKAP on Facebook and Instagram and check out their music on Spotify and Apple Music.