Søstre – Søstre
Release Date: 17th March 2023
Label: Loyal Blood Records
Spotify
Genre: Black n Roll, Stoner, Psychedelic.
FFO: Ondt Blod, Kvelertak, Gallows, Mutoid Man, Black Tusk.
Review By: John Newlands
Søstre are an up-and-coming black and roll band from Bergen, Norway. This self-titled debut album, Søstre, is due to be released via Loyal Blood Records on 17/03/23.
Upon first listening, I can see that it would be easy to throw Søstre onto the pile of Kvelertak inspired bands out there. Up to a point this wouldn’t be the wrong thing to do, the inspiration and DNA of Kvelertak is clearly present with similar song structures, use of guitar melody, pacing and even the vocal delivery harkens to that of Erlend Hjelvik on the first 2 Kvelertak albums.
But, and this is quite a big BUT, Søstre both add and subtract some flavours that the aforementioned trailblazers in this genre put in place and not at all to its detriment. For instance, I like that Søstre dial back on the black metal elements in their sound, I can’t remember there being any black metal style blast beats, which for me is a HUGE plus point. Instead, Søstre lean into some mild stoner and psychedelic sounds which have a great groove and melody & is much more to my own taste.
Søstre starts off with Svart Magi, an atmospheric piano driven intro track hinting towards the bands interest in the occult, before kicking into Søstre, an absolute ripper of a track that sets the pace of how the album is going to play out.
Standout tracks for me are Søstre, Hagen er i Skyggen (which has almost an Iron Maiden feel to it) Flokken, Kausalitet and album closer Leik. These are balls to the walls high octane fun. All these tracks have fantastic hooks, great use of melody and really high energy which I think would come over fantastic in a live setting.
If I were to make a tiny wee a complaint it would be that track 7, Fucking Lift-Off, feels slightly out of place and for me doesn’t really lift off to anything.
I like the use of the short atmospheric tracks to break up the fast pace of the album and provide a bit of a breather for the listener, but for the sake of continuity, I would have preferred if the band had made another track picking up on the vibe of Svart Magi (and revisited in track 10 En Misforstått Tanke), rather than the sound of Fucking Lift-Off.
I wanted something bombastic to follow this track, but instead the follow-up track (En Romalder) opens with a stoner-esque guitar riff which feels like our space adventure started with a bong rip rather than a blast off.
Small complaint aside, as mentioned, Søstre is high energy, fast-paced fun, and it does not feel its 44-min runtime. It is very well produced with good balance between all instrumentation. I’ve listened to this album in a number of settings with different headphones, speakers etc. and it always sounded great.
So, to close. I’m going to try and make a wee analogy of Søstre as a pizza. Why not!?!
You know how in a restaurant, it’s pretty normal to add or remove toppings to make a pizza to suit you? Well I feel that Søstre has made a damn good black and roll pizza perfectly designed for me.
They have taken the black and roll pizza (lets call it a Kvelertak) and removed some of the bits I don’t like and added some of my favourite toppings, making a dish that really tickles my pizza pickle.
This is an impressive debut, Søstre has put their own unique stamp onto a genre which I feel was in need of some new ideas. Well done, folks. 
(4 / 5)
