Valkyrie

"The alchemical theme of the album is highlighted on the title track not just by the forging of high and low culture but with an Amebix-like compound of punk and metal that doesn't lose any power from either genre by the fusion. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it until someone pays attention – if you've ever read Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life about the rich history of the American rock underground of the 1980s and found yourself thinking, 'Goddamn, why don't we have bands like Big Black, the Butthole Surfers or Fugazi anymore?' then Årabrot are for you. This is not to say that they are gnarly 1980s retro merchants like the phalanx of MBV and Sonic Youth copyists that litter small labels at the moment. Instead, they have a similarly radical outlook on making bracing, violent, forward-looking and potentially life-changing art." John Doran