Introducing: The Last Man

Norwegian band The Last Man offer up a dark and moody but engaging progressive hard rock sound that they describe as “atmospheric, melodic and heavy.”

The band is formed of three guys from around the Oslo area and an American hailing from Boston. It started with vocalist Mats Hvalsengen and guitarist Andreas Holmedahl Hvidsten, who were childhood friends and had been talking about starting a band for a long time. The ideas began to develop when Mats met second guitarist Anders Strand in 2013, then Andreas discovered drummer Simen Berger at the university he lectured at.

As Simen explains: “We brought ideas to the table from vastly different musical backgrounds. But all of us shared a passion for melodic and emotive music where contrasts provide momentum and drive to the music, and we quickly realized that we had tapped into something valuable and unique. Since the very beginning of the band, all our songs are written, developed, composed and jammed out almost completely collectively in our rehearsal space, which contributes to amalgamating all our different inputs in new and inspiring ways.”

Mats doubled up on bass for the early years of the band, but they soon realised vocals and bass would be better served being handled separately. So they brought in initial bassist Asaad, which began to develop the sound heard on their debut EP The Redshift, before Asaad was replaced by current bassist Max Krafft, who’d just moved to Norway to work.

Simen adds: “We instantly glued musically, and his theoretical knowledge of music along with his creative and highly expressive playing style elevated our music to a level we didn’t previously know existed. Luckily for us, Max also glued well with Norway, and has decided to settle down here, so we are thrilled to now have had a stable lineup for the last few years.

“The Last Man’s sound straddles many of our favorite hard rock and metal subgenres from the last 30 years, including alternative, post-rock, prog rock, stoner and grunge. While our inspirations and influences might be pretty evident on some songs, we really believe that we bring our own personal spin to the music, and that “the sound of The Last Man” is something that people should recognize across our past and future releases. One of our listeners might have put it the most eloquently; ‘It’s like Tool and Eddie Vedder got together and did shrooms.’

With Max on board, the band released their debut album Between Shadows last year, before releasing new three-track EP Dream Cycles on Friday (2 December). The EP opens up a mellow title track before coming to the two stars of the show.

In Time starts with light guitars supporting delicious low-pitched raspy vocals. The atmosphere gradually builds with a light guitar lick creeping in and supporting more impassioned vocals. Heavier guitars kick in as the tracks pick up pace and flows into a hypnotic verse that ends with a light guitar lick. A big engaging chorus returns with rolling drums and driving guitar chords that bring the track to an enjoyable conclusion.

Next up is the near-eight-minute-long Sleep Of Reason, which starts out with light flickering guitars. Light drums kick in and lead us into moody verses, which intensify slightly with edgy guitars and engaging vocals. Drawn-out guitar chords come in and drop back into the lighter opening guitars, teeing up another laid-back verse.

Twinkling guitars and a plodding bass support morose vocals, before the atmosphere develops with high-pitched guitars and building vocals. Heavier chords kick in under the high-pitched guitars, then stabs of guitar set up a powerful outro led by drawn-out guitars. Check it out here:

On the release, Simen told us: “We are super excited to finally be able to show people some of what we have been working on over the last couple of years! As both Sleep of Reason and In Time were developed throughout the pandemic they might represent a slight sonic departure from our previous material, while still maintaining our signature sound and expression.

“Both songs are quite introspective, moody and perhaps even brooding at times, before kicking off into soaring crescendos. We feel like these songs provide a brief meditative rest for us before we move on to our next full-length release which as of now is turning out more complex and aggressive than ever!”

The Last Man’s members share common influences from the 90s alternative, prog and grunge wave, including bands like Tool, Alice in Chains, Kyuss and The Melvins. But, as Simen explains, they have their own separate favourites: “I try to never let an opportunity for a lengthy instrumental section in the vein of Isis or Explosions in the Sky pass us by. Max comes more from a math-rock and punk background, which he uses to make even the most stadium friendly of choruses have several layers of complexity to unpack upon repeat listens. On the complete other side of the spectrum, Andreas comes from a folk and acoustic background, and always has a beautiful harmony or melody to add to our heavier parts.”

They also share a drive to create something that sounds different and moves or impacts their listeners emotionally. As Simen tells us: “Personally I have a desire to communicate not just beats, but also musical ideas through the drum kit, and to both support and elevate a song’s natural rhythm, groove and feel. All lyrics are written by Mats, who writes really personally about loss, doubt and longing, which really helps crystalize the overall theme of our music.”

It’s been a little while since we interviewed any Norwegian rock bands and, on their local scene, Simen told us: “From our own experience, the Norwegian underground rock and metal scene is simply overflowing with amazing talent that is unfortunately mostly not heard outside the country. In terms of emerging bands, all of the major towns in Norway have really active rock and metal scenes, and we feel lucky to always have a host of different clubs and stages where we can play and engage with our audience. 

“Just to mention a few of our favorites from recent years; Saver and Hymn are currently carrying the torch for and developing the sound of the likes of Neurosis and Amenra, while Tempel are adding a refreshing new spin on Norway’s national export, black metal. A slightly more well-known name is Spidergawd, with their furious tempos and energy who we think will make it big one day soon! A last shoutout we would like to do is to Sahg, who just released their new album Born Demon, which we recommend everyone to check out!”

The Last Man’s new EP Dream Cycles is out now. The band are already busy writing new material for an album, which they hope to start recording next year. You can also see The Last Man playing several gigs to be announced in Oslo, including one at metal venue Vaterland, and across Norway in 2023, so keep an eye out for those.

And Simen adds: “Please have a listen to our music and let us know what you think, we really appreciate all the feedback and love for our music, it keeps us going!”

You can follow The Last Man on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.