Norway’s Rosa Faenskap return with the powerful new album “Ingenting Forblir” (Norwegian for “nothing lasts”). The album, like the band is “a declaration of love for – as well as a declaration of war against – black metal itself.

ROSA FAENSKAP

What does it mean to be a black metal band? Long gone are the days when this question could easily be answered. As emphasised by the 2022 Black Metal Rainbows collection (a compilation of “queer and left win black metal + more”), black metal has evolved dramatically since it earliest days to become a space for everyone.

Among those bands at the forefront of this evolution, Norway’s Rosa Faenskap return with the powerful new album Ingenting Forblir (Norwegian for “nothing lasts”). The album, like the band is “a declaration of love for – as well as a declaration of war against – black metal itself. In a genre marinated in unhealthy amounts of testosterone and misanthropy”, it “stands as a counterweight, celebrating queerness, equality, and everything that sparkles.”

Guitarist Emil Vestre, speaking in a 2023 interview with New Noise Magazine, noted: “I’d never been into black metal or music with harsh vocals before then, but with Taake, something just clicked, and I immediately fell in love with their music. Shortly thereafter, I found out about Taake’s racist and Islamophobic views, which made me lose interest completely and boycott them. Still, something had forever changed about the way I heard extreme music, since the music itself really resonated with me.”

PINK FILTH

A number of recent newcomers have sought to challenge what black metal actually is, what it should be about, and who can participate. Rosa Faenskap (roughly translated as “pink filth”, though Google Translate tells me “pink fuck” is more accurate) are one such band. Self defined as “patricidal black metal”, the band has a declared mission to broaden the scope of black metal, to turn it into a space for everyone.

“A central theme of the album is the exhausting feeling of watching the seemingly safe world one grew up in gradually become a bleak, uncomfortable place where hate, injustice, and dehumanization constantly grow. The band explores this feeling throughout the album from many different angles – from the poetic, to the analytical, further to the brutally honest and deeply personal.”

The band themselves note their range of influences – hardcore, post-rock, and prog are all cited on their bandcamp page – but this album is unmistakeably black. Certainly it has all the qualities that we love about black metal. Vestre’s guitars offer the listener searing riffs and the vocals of Håvard Solli, backed up by the thundering drums of Anders Jansvik, will draw in fans of all genres of extreme metal. Their overtly political messages – “nothing lasts” may have darker implications, but equally the idea that darker days will not persist can be drawn from the album’s title.

INGENTING FORBLIR

Their 2023 debut Jeg blir til deg was widely acclaimed and it is no surprise to find similarly high standards on Ingenting Forblir.

Opener Den Svake Mannen kicks off the album. Most striking on this song is the booming vocals, which represents a real mix of extreme metal genres, but certainly in this reviewers mind in a very good way. The onslaught continues on Faenskap for Alltid, an incredibly powerful track that has received particular attention in online reviews. La Barna Leve the third track begins in a more solemn post-rock style before Jansvik’s drums kick in and bring the listener right back into the depths of this composition. Klarhet i Kaos, no less engaging as a tune, changes the tone a little and its oscillation between different tempos and tones, beginning with elements of hardcore punk and including a spacey interlude late in the track, is reminiscent of some of the finest post-black music out there. The album closes on the near-10 minute Jeg Våkner Snart.

Ingenting Forblir is a triumphant return for Rosa Faenskap. It officially released Friday 6 March on their Bandcamp. Rosa Faenskap are on tour in Norway and Sweden over the spring months. This reviewer will be keeping fingers crossed for some UK dates.

Rosa Faenskap: Website

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