https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Besvärjelsen Sign to Magnetic Eye Records; New Album Later This Year

I’m not saying it can’t happen or that I wouldn’t be stoked if it did, but unless they’re hitting the studio, like, next week, a 2021 timeline for Besvärjelsen‘s second album seems ambitious, especially if they’re also taking part in Magnetic Eye Records‘ upcoming AC/DC tribute (man, they just keep pumping out those reduxes). The PostWax veterans released their Frost EP (discussed here) in 2019 as a follow-up to 2018’s Vallmo (review here), and for sure the wintry aspects of their sound would be highlighted by a release in, say, November, but even if their songs are nailed down tight and all that, I guess it just seems like to go from zero to mastered-album, then give figure three months lead time for promo, preorders, all that stuff, that puts you into probably September at the earliest. Doable, yeah. But with a band like this, whose sound is so meditative and fleshed out, you’d almost rather they take their time.

Don’t hurry, is all I’m saying. Yes, I’m very much looking forward to what Besvärjelsen might do next. I guess maybe I’m just fretting over nothing. Such a worrier, this one.

More important, congrats to the band on the Magnetic Eye signing, though they were with Blues Funeral, so it’s Jadd either way. Distribution don’t hurt though.

PR wire brings details:

besvarjelsen (Photo by Stine Rapp)

BESVÄRJELSEN sign deal with Magnetic Eye Records

BESVÄRJELSEN have penned a multi-album deal with Magnetic Eye Records. The Swedish forest rockers will release their sophomore album via the label this year and also contribute a track to the forthcoming “Back in Black Redux” homage to AC/DC.

BESVÄRJELSEN comment: “We are extremely thrilled to be joining Magnetic Eye Records”, writes drummer Erik Bäckwall. “We know that we have come to the right team as we will be joining an amazing roster on this renowned label. In all modesty, we think that we have written our finest material yet for the new record, so we are very much looking forward to record and share it with the world as soon as possible!”

Jadd Shickler welcomes the Swedes: “I feel extremely privileged in welcoming Besvärjelsen onto our roster and I promise that the world of heavy music will be floored by what this amazing group does next”, comments the Magnetic Eye Records label director. “Having been part of the heavy rock underground for some time, I am fortunate to know many great musicians going back quite a few years. Sometimes such artists re-emerge with new bands and projects and I am lucky to be one of the first to hear about them. The very moment that original Dozer drummer Erik let me hear material from his new band Besvärjelsen, I knew they were something special and magical. Altareth, Heavy Temple, and now Besvärjelsen, 2021 is shaping up to be a hell of year for great bands joining Magnetic Eye Records.”

Spellbinding five-piece BESVA?RJELSEN take their name from the Swedish word for “conjuring”, which is a fitting description for their haunting approach to Northern heaviness. The Scandinavians carry melodic doom at their hearts, but lace their sound with subtle touches of prog as well as punk, folk, and classic rock.

The Swedes set out to with a clear vision to channel the vast Dalarna forests, a region otherwise famous for its painted wooden horses, instead of following the general trend among European riff-rock bands to try and evoke the American deserts.

The band was co-founded by guitarists and vocalists Andreas Baier and Staffan Stensland Vinrot in 2014, inspired by their magical geographic location. The musicians had both grown up on old Norse and Finnish grounds in Dalecarlia, Sweden surrounded by its lore, its mysticism, and its dark, droning musical traditions. The duo saw their new band as a means to create heavy music infused with all those elements.

Andreas, coming from a background in punk and hardcore, had realised that by constantly making his music faster, it finally hit a point where fast started to become slow. The timing of riffs would cut in half, even with blastbeats going underneath, and his instinctive pattern for slowing things down laid the foundation for BESVA?RJELSEN’s approach.

Initially Andreas and Staffan shared vocal duties, but they concluded that a full-time singer would free them to explore the complexity of their music further. While the duo never made a conscious decision to look for a female vocalist, Lea Amling Alazam arrived with a passion for punk and stoner rock that had started at age 13 at the local skate park. When, to the surprise of the guitarists, her distinctive voiced summoned the intimacy and charisma of singers like NINA SIMONE or AMY WINEHOUSE, Lea became the obvious choice.

BESVA?RJELSEN released their debut EP “Villfarelser” in 2015, which was followed quickly with the “Exil” EP in 2016. At this time, former DOZER and GREENLEAF drummer Erik Ba?ckwall joined the line-up. Both releases, though self-financed and released with minimal promotion, were well-received and even found airplay on Swedish National Radio.

Bass player Johan Rockner (DOZER, GREENLEAF) joined in 2018; just before their debut full-length “Vallmo” came out. The quintet merged crushing riffs and storming drums with increasingly sophisticated melodies and thoughtful themes. The album debut was greeted with great acclaim and even earned BESVA?RJELSEN a festival slot opening for DEEP PURPLE.

With Erik and Johan having played in various bands together and sharing a musical language, the rhythm section started to contribute to the songwriting for the mini-album “Frost”, which was released in late 2019. While BESVA?RJELSEN were forced into involuntary live performance hibernation like every band other during 2020, the Swedes kept themselves busy with intensive songwriting during all those months.

Having now joined Magnetic Eye Records, BESVA?RJELSEN will enter studio in spring 2021 to record their sophomore full-length to be released via the label this year.

Line-up
Lea Amling Alazam- vocals
Staffan Stensland Vinrot – guitars, vocals
Andreas Baier – guitars, vocals
Erik Bäckwall – drums
Johan Rockner – bass

https://www.facebook.com/besvarjelsen
https://www.instagram.com/besvarjelsen
https://besvarjelsen.bandcamp.com/
http://store.merhq.com
http://magneticeyerecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticEyeRecords

Besvärjelsen, Frost (2019)

Tags: , , , ,

Leave a Reply