text: Oscar Wendt
Alfahanne
Det Nya Svarta
Indie Recordings
April 7th, 2017
If you know Alfahanne you may expect that this review will, once again, overuse the word Alfa. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! Describing their music as alfapocalypic rock, Alfahanne is a band that certainly can’t leave you indifferent. It may not be the heaviest stuff in the world, but it surely grasps some obscure regions and deals with some dark and dirty topics. Both their previous albums, Alfapokalyps and Blod Eld Alfa, are frequent visitors to my player and now the time has come for the third record to join them. Det Nya Svarta is a brand new Alfahanne’s creation which is out on Indie Recordings.
Det Nya Svarta translates to The New Black. What is that new black according to Alfahanne? Well, those of you that were aware of the band before, will know that they like inviting guest vocalists to their albums. And boom! The first surprise comes with the first track, Satans Verser, which features Dolk from Kampfar. How about that for a starter? The very characteristic and somehow soothing riffs flow from the very beginning and you can easily get trapped in the Alfa spirit. The song structures are kept to the minimum, with very simple compositions that work really well. And they’re also very catchy as always! Before you realize, you start humming Stigmata or actually any other track…
Avgrundsgravitation was one of the promo singles and I must say that as soon as I heard it, I was clearly possessed with this song. I never thought that such a simple track can be so addictive. After having listened to Det Nya Svarta for good 10 times, it is still my favourite one. It captures that somehow melancholic spirit of Alfahanne which I love so much. Pehr’s vocals combined with the guest vocalist, David Lindh, sound phenomenally convincing and touching. I also think that this is a kind of Alfahanne’s trademark showing exactly what they do best – such a simple song composition turned into something so outstanding.
And the album continues that way… It’s great to observe how it develops with each song but really keeping the same Alfa spirit throughout. I guess the biggest surprise can be Mitt Mörker är Mörkare än Ditt with those really cool blues vibes that will stay in your head for a long time. It always amazes me how they manage to combine the not-heavy-at-all music with such a dark and disturbing aura. The real Alfa aura! I guess that is what makes them so difficult to compare to any other band in spite of various more and less obvious musical influences.
Det Nya Svarta flows. And it flows quick. I’m not sure why but it feels short, maybe because it’s so easy to get involved in. Maybe because it’s so spacious. Det Nya Svarta is easy to get lost in. And that is what I always look for in music. It doesn’t lack originality nor the charisma that are so difficult to find in music nowadays. Det Nya Svarta is addictive and if that’s how The New Black looks like according to Alfahanne, I’m totally up for it!
THE GOAT TAVERN 