Usually for a fest lineup, I post one band’s player at the bottom of the post. Usually it’s a headliner, sometimes it’s a newer band on purpose, sometimes it’s just someone I check out who I haven’t heard before, etc. There are three players at the bottom of this post, and that’s probably too few. Take it as a sign of the uncommonly packed bill of Majestic Mountain Fest Oslo and the quality both of the work the imprint has been doing and its taste in general. Over the last two years, Majestic Mountain has emerged as a significant contributor to the underground sphere in Europe, especially Northern Europe, with a roster of talent varied in much but united in their ability to connect with their audience. One imagines it will be no different when so many of the label’s acts take the stage at the upcoming three-day festival next month.

This was originally supposed to happen in June, which, hey, sometimes a thing gets pushed back. Cool it’s coming together at all, given the scope of the lineup and the sheer logistics of getting so many schedules to align for three days (plus a pre-show) without the infrastructure of having already done so in the past. That is to say, I expect that if they do another fest like this, it’ll be easier the second time around.

Oh, and if you haven’t actually heard any of those records at the bottom of this post, you’re gonna want to do that.

From social media:

MMR FEST OSLO – OH YES.  It’s ON, folks!

Event page: https://facebook.com/events/s/majestic-mountain-fest-oslo/667812601039777/

The time has come, Majestic Crew- After what seems like an eternity of delays and silence, we are finally able to announce the rescheduled details and final lineup for Majestic Mountain Fest // Oslo 2022.

The festival will take place on December 1-3rd at the (in)famous Blitz Hus.

We will have a killer kick-off party on Wednesday 30th of November at our favourite chill spot Brewgata with a live gig and a rad tap takeover from the mighty Nøgne Ø

We will also have a beautiful appearance from a very special guest, Mika Häkki. More details on that to come!

Visit the event page for ticket links!
There has been a bit of shifting to the lineup due to the new logistics so any previously scheduled bands you do not see on this year’s roster will appear in the next edition.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support and excitement for this event.

Despite the challenges presented to us, we keep charging forward. This festival is truly a labour of love and will be one for the books.

We are absolutely psyched to see you all in Oslo next month and can’t wait to celebrate our incredible roster and you, our fantastic fans!

Majestic Mountain Records is psyched to invite you to the first edition of Majestic Fest Oslo 2022!

When & Where:

Pre-Party Gig & Nøgne-Ø Tap Takeover at Brewgata Oslo
30 November

Festival at Blitz, Oslo
1-3 Decmber

After a challenging year of what seemed like endless delays, we are finally able to let loose and run full steam ahead on a three-day riff fest of gargantuan proportions to commence the 1-3 December at Blitz.

PLUS a killer pre-party gig and tap takeover with the mighty Nøgne-Ø on Wednesday the 30th of November at Brewgata!

This is going to be a very special event with the best community vibes and killer performances by Majestic Mountain Records Roster bands.

We’re also proud to welcome a very special guest, Mika Häkki.

Join us in on the last day of November and the first weekend of December for heavy riffs, mega fuzz and all of the good times!

The MMR crew cannot wait to bang our heads and hang with you in Oslo!

Full day schedule coming next week!

Lineup is as follows:

Kal-El (NO)
Grand Cadaver (SE)
Saint Karloff (NO)
Jointhugger (NO)
Wolves in Haze (SE)
Häxmästaren (SE)
Bogwife (DK)
Void Commander (SE)
Laser Dracul (SE)
Tornet (SE)
Slódder (SE)
Signo Rojo (SE)
Masheena (NO)
Goatriders (SE)
DRÖÖG (SE)
Bismarck (NO)
CB3 (SE)
Satanic Overdrive (SE)
Draken (NO)
Domkraft (SE)

http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Kal-El, Dark Majesty (2021)

CB3, Exploration (2022)

Domkraft, Seeds (2021)

Do you want to dream with me for a while, or will it be too much of a downer? It’s okay. This one hits particularly bittersweet for me. I haven’t been to every Høstsabbat, but I’ve been to enough to see how the Oslo-based festival has grown and is growing, and the thought of not being there in a few weeks for this one is that much harder to take as the lineup is revealed today. Imagine the existential payoff of being engulfed in Mars Red Sky‘s melodic wash on the first night and obliterated by Conan the second, or seeing Greenleaf bring the blues of their latest album to life.

I’ve never seen Causa Sui. I’ve never seen Øresund Space Collective. These are bands I think and write about all the time. And newcomers like Slomosa, Jointhugger, Superlynx, Saint Karloff and Kryptograf, Hymn and Kite and Suncraft — these are some of the best up and coming acts the Norwegian heavy underground has to offer. Imagine being able to say you’ve seen Besvärjelsen. The thought of this happening and my not being there makes me genuinely sad.

It’s just a Fredag and a Lørdag, right? I could go! It could happen. It’s not a huge festival. I’ll mask up, of course… After a year and a half of so much bullshit, fear, sadness, ongoing, don’t I have to eventually just accept that this is what life is now and some things are worth the risk? That this is something I need to be the person I am? Who am I without live music?

And there you go. Bitter because I’m forced to reconcile myself to not seeing it. Sweet because I know in my heart these are good, passionate people who make this happen and because I believe in what they do, and even if I can’t/won’t be there to see it, it’s happening. I’m sorry to make this one about me. Really it’s about awesome bands and a righteous bill. If you’re going, enjoy. Live.

Full Høstsabbat 2021 lineup — though I’m hearing rumors about a Torsdag to-do as well — follows here:

HØSTSABBAT 2021 FULL LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT

In the spirit of optimistic caution and with safety precautions at the forefront of our minds, we step forward in preparation for our stages to resonate with the heavy once again! The riffs will rise from our home at Kulturkirken Jakob and our Norwegian stage at Verkstedet on Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th of October.

Today we proudly release the full lineup and hope you are as excited as we are to come together again in celebration of the riff and all things heavy.

Daypasses and program will be out on Friday. Until then, get your festival ticket asap!

TICKETS: https://bit.ly/hostsabbat2021

Lineup HØSTSABBAT 2021 – October 8th-9th

– Mars Red Sky (fr)
– Øresund Space Collective (dk)
– Slomosa (no)
– Hymn (no)
– Conan (uk)
– Causa Sui (dk)
– Gøsta Berlings Saga (se)
– Greenleaf (se)
– Saint Karloff (no)
– Besværjelsen (se)
– Kryptograf (no)
– Kite (no)
– Sibiir (no)
– Orkan (se)
– Warp Riders (no)
– Jointhugger (no)
– Draken
– Gunerius & Verdensveven
– Superlynx
– U-Foes
– Shaving the Werewolf
– Suncraft

https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Høstsabbat 2019 official aftermovie

Oslo, Norway’s Draken make their self-titled debut March 26 through Majestic Mountain Records, and if you’re the kind of person who likes easy categorization, it’s probably not a record for you. Bands who do one thing? That ain’t what’s happening here. Comprised of seven tracks across a sometimes-dizzying 45 minutes, Draken‘s Draken pulsates with energy through and through, but that performance element from bassist/vocalist Hallvard Gaardløs (also Orango and Spidergawd), guitarist Even Helte Hermansen (also Bushman’s Revenge) and drummer Andre Drage carries the heavy load when it comes to uniting the songs. That is to say, the purposes throughout Draken, especially as the adrenaline of opener “Realm of Silence” and “Way Down Low” — both of which ride the line between classic metal and heavy rock — gives way to the chunkier riffing of “Grand General,” and the full breadth of the record begins to show itself.

“Way Down Low,” at 5:54, is the longest of the three early cuts, and it brings the first surprising turn when it shifts into gruff, shouted vocals in its second half, revealing a current of heavy, modern noise rock that immediately throws the listener for a loop and pulls the rug out from under expectation. The stomp of “Grand General” offers some security, like it’s post-Mastodon with a classic edge, then the lead guitar starts in on this ’80s Don Henley thing before scorching out full-on and chug-whamming a finish (plus more growls) in under four minutes’ time, and, well, it doesn’t get any less complex from there.

Far from it, as Draken are really just getting started. Of the remaining four songs, none is under six minutes long. “(We Walk In) Circles,” the centerpiece, is seven and a half, and introduces an airy guitar atop fuzzy lumber leading to an open, subdued verse that gives way to a chorus that, were it not from Norway I might think of as being inspired by Akimbo (not that Norway is short on its own sphere of heavy noise), a blend of patience and electricity that’s telling in terms of Draken not being any of the members’ first time in the studio. The back and forth gives way to a rousing, worthy-of-being-the-centerpiece finish, and the 10-minute prog-metal “The Master” arrives. A highlight in style and substance alike, by the time it shows up, Draken have summarily blown the doors down in terms of genre and the fact that they’ve done so with such casual aplomb means that there’s little else the listener can do but try to keep up with the changes as they arrive. Might take a couple listens, honestly, as one song moves into the next and the purposes seem disparate, but that also has the effect of engaging with the album more satisfying.

So obviously things even out in the last two tracks, the band settle into some kind of middle ground, and the notion of challenging their audience — while still remaining basically accessible — fades away in favor of, I don’t know, willful mediocrity? Right? That sounds likely given how Draken‘s played out to this point, doesn’t it?

Of course not. “Strange Love” brings classic-speed boogie and hints at some of Spidergawd‘s swagger, while “Mountain in an Endless Ocean” is the most aggressively grooved inclusion on the outing, and that’s counting anything with the rougher vocals. A band like this, it can go one of three ways. One, they break up. Always possible. Two, they find one thing they want to do and do that. Three, they stay weird. Right now, Draken are downright gleeful in how all-over-the-place this debut is. They sound like they’re having a blast playing by no rules other than turn-the-amps-on-first, and it suits them. That’s a difficult strategy to maintain over the long term, and maybe they will, maybe they won’t, but right now, Draken is blindsiding and enjoyable in equal parts for its utter refusal to commit to a singular intent. If you can get on board with it — and again, it might take a couple listens to do so — you could have a lot of fun.

No single track represents Draken‘s Draken as a whole. Sorry. “Way Down Low” gives the album’s first hints that there’s more going on here that it might initially seem, so I hope you’ll listen to it in that context here too.

Please enjoy:

Hallvard Gaardløs on “Way Down Low”:

“‘Way Down Low’ was one of the last tracks to be written for our debut album and the inspiration for the song came after I went to the movies to see Us by Jordan Peele. I thought it was pretty fucking scary, so when I went home, I couldn’t really sleep so I stayed up and wrote that song. It was one of the last tracks to be written for our debut album, and also a very important one. The characters and overall theme of the lyrics tie together with the album cover, so this could well be a title-track of some sort. It goes to show that sometimes, a good scare can have unexpected results.”

Pre-order Draken via Majestic Mountain Records – https://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com/product/draken-draken-vinyl

Draken’s self-titled debut album will be released worldwide on 26th March 2021 through Majestic Mountain Records. 

Draken
Hallvard Gaardløs – Bass, Vocals
Even Hermansen – Guitar
Andre Drage – Drums

Draken on Thee Facebooks

Draken on Instagram

Draken on Twitter

Majestic Mountain Records webstore

Majestic Mountain Records on Thee Facebooks

Majestic Mountain Records on Instagram

Plenty of scorch in the teaser clip for Draken‘s upcoming debut album, and also kind of for their existence as well. It’s a new project headed by Hallvard Gaardløs (Spidergawd and Orango, which if you didn’t know are both really, really killer bands) operating in power trio fashion, and the PR wire brings word they’ve signed to Majestic Mountain Records for their long-player, which makes them kinfolk to fellow Norwegians Kal-El and Jointhugger, as well as Sweden’s Electric Hydra and The Hypnogogics, among others righteously riffing.

At this point, I’m pretty willing to check out something on Majestic Mountain just on its face given label-head Marco Berg‘s taste in output to-date, but even if I wasn’t, the teaser for this one — not to mention Gaardløs‘ pedigree — bodes remarkably. New stuff in the New Year. We can all just pretend 2020 didn’t happen right?

The aforementioned PR wire does it like this:

Introducing DRAKEN: Norwegian Hard Rock Trio Sign to MAJESTIC MOUNTAIN RECORDS /// Debut Album Released March 2021

Majestic Mountain Records is psyched to announce the signing of Norwegian trio Draken for the release of their debut album next year.

Formed in Oslo in 2018 by Spidergawd/Orango bassist Hallvard Gaardløs and close friend Andre Drage, Draken is a rock band with an appetite for reinvention. Recently becoming a fully-fledged power triumvirate with the addition of jazz/progressive virtuoso, Even Hermansen (Bushman’s Revenge) on guitar, the trio dig on the Metals and Hard Rocks of old, and in doing so channel the inspiration they unearth into something truly unique.

With the band currently holed up at Røffsound Studios with producer Vegard Liverød, with the final few touches still to be added to their debut, Majestic Mountain Records are already paving the way for its official release next year:

“From hearing the first riff on the demo we knew that we wanted to work with Draken!” says MMR’s Marco Berg. “Their mix of groove heavy riffs and catchy tunes will definitely make waves. We’re excited to share the first single with you once 2020 is over.”

Draken’s self-titled debut album will be officially released worldwide in March 2021 on Majestic Mountain Records.

Draken is
Hallvard Gaardløs (bass/vocals)
Even Hermansen (guitar)
Andre Drage (drums)

https://www.facebook.com/drakentheband
http://majesticmountainrecords.bigcartel.com
http://facebook.com/majesticmountainrecords
http://instagram.com/majesticmountainrecords

Draken, 2021 Album Teaser