Thungur - No Going Back (CD)

Here’s a new and modern sounding power pack called Thungur (heavy in Icelandic - remember Jorn’s Thungur Knivur - Heavy Knife), which I for some reason though were from Iceland, when it turns out they reside in Malmö, an hour from me. They were previously called Bend And Break, under which monicker they releaed two streaming albums. The album kicks off with the de-tuned riffing of "White Lies" sounding quite akin to fellows Corroded. Heavy, yet melodic, drop tuned hard rock with solid clean, albeit somewhat angry, vocals. Kristjan Samuelsson is a really great singer with a versatile voice, going all death metal in the verse of "Pink Champagne", but cleaning it up in the chorus. This track is all way darker and heavier than some of the other tracks. Guitarist Björn Stegerling doesn’t dwell in long guitar solos. If there’s even any, they are short and simple. His rhythm work is powerful as a brick wall, and his production likewise. Bassist Roger Nielsen and drummer Andreas Albihn backs him up with killer groove and heaviness. The songs are quite straightforward at a first glance, but there are some great quirky twists popping up here and there. Sometimes they sound a bit like the missing link between Black Label Society and Shinedown, which ain’t a bad thing in my book.