ANOTHER OUTBURST OF TRUE NORWEGIAN HEAVY METAL:
MORE OF NOTHING
«These songs are a result of exploring what the Toxic Trio can do. We just had some fun with it, and it turned out sounding very consistent.»
Norway’s premier exponents of thunderous and doomy heavy metal, Sahg, are back with another outburst of ‘True Norwegian Heavy Metal’. Two years after their sixth and arguably finest studio record, Born Demon, and 18 years on from the release of their debut album, Sahg I, the endurant Norwegians are poised to return in 2024 with a four-track EP that once again reaches further towards this band’s imperial ambitions. Throughout only four tracks, More of Nothing spans across an impressive range of nuances within the realm of metal, executed through meticulous craftsmanship and macabre songwriting.
Formed by singer/guitarist Olav Iversen in Bergen, Norway, in 2004, although plainly rooted in that ever-fruitful ‘70s rock and proto-metal bedrock, they have spent the last 18 years continually reinventing their sound. From the crushing doom majesty of 2008’s Sahg II to the psych-fuelled reveries of 2013’s Delusions Of Grandeur, Iversen and his bandmates have brought great individuality and a liberated artistic mindset to the table. Equally renowned as a live band of skull-rattling distinction (as proven on 2023’s Live Demons concert EP), Sahg seemed to reach a new peak of inspiration on 2016’s Memento Mori, wherein new recruit Mads Lilletvedt (drums) added extra fire to another blazing pyre of huge riffs and thundering beats.
As showcased on their 2022 album Born Demon, Sahg are newly reborn as a three-headed monster. Arguably heavier and more dynamic than any previous incarnation of the band, the blistering power trio is what happens when great musicians allow instinct to take over.
“We have worked onward as the ‘Toxic Trio’ since our last album, and passed even new limits for what this three-piece can achieve.”
From the razor-sharp riff rampage of title track More of Nothing to the grand postlude of sombre ballad-noir She’s a Queen – Sahg’s most passionate and hurtful outlet to date – this EP covers an impressive expanse of metal territory. Solidly rooted in the doom & gloom section of classic heavy metal, it covers new ground for each track, not least through the frost-ridden, Blashyrkh-reeking grandeur of Suffer in Silence, which leaps straight into the weightiest cover of T.Rex’s classic Children of the Revolution that you will ever hear. All strapped nicely together through the Toxic Trio’s rough-edged and distinct signature sound – old-school, yet with the vibrance and punch in the gut of a modern metal recording.
Self-produced, like their 2022 album Born Demon, with singer/guitarist Olav Iversen in the driver’s seat, Sahg has once again recorded close to home, at Polyfon Studio and No Tomorrow Recordings in Bergen, Norway. And, like on their previous effort, renowned mixing/mastering wizard Russ Russell (Napalm Death/Dimmu Borgir) has worked his magic behind the mixing desk.
«As proven throughout this band’s history, we are not afraid to try something new and just let it out there. On the other hand, some might say we are the most traditional metal band around! (laughs) So, I guess everyone will just have to give it a listen and make up their own minds about it», Iversen encourages.