Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You don’t have to understand the words spoken to acknowledge their meaning. You don’t have to recognise the language to absorb the proposal, or the aim of the dialogue and conversation intended; all that is required is to tell the difference between the struggle and the light in someone’s heart for you to feel the empathy in your soul for their song.

We live in a time of mass confrontation, all sides flexing muscles that have been hidden through diplomacy and friendship, suddenly raw and exposed and dripping with sentiments that threaten the safety of all caught in the crossfire of the oncoming storm and battle.

If there is war with honour then it only exists in the true belief of good v evil, not as defined by the words of man as a declaration of religious damnation, and we need to make that perfectly clear, but the fight continues onwards and if the battle be joined then a song that perfectly exemplifies the fierce debate of battle, a creatively enjoyable song from one of Norway’s finest, Kalandra, is one in which to feel the heartfelt grace in a language that understands just how to build up the searing vocals of passion available. 

Bardaginn, translated as fight or battle in Old Norse, is a movement of music that pushes the band deeply into the realm of the genre they have inhabited with class and utter compelling strength, and the challenge met, not only in the song itself but in the incredible video that accompanies it, Jogeir Daae Mæland, Florian Döderlein Winter, Katrine Stenbekk and Oskar Rydh combine to bring a beauty in the guise of ferocity together, a relationship that has served the band well, takes a genuine step onwards and sees them sit amongst the heavyweights of Norwegian/Scandinavian music.

A colossal single, Kalandra have reached out and demolished the silence with spirit.

Ian D. Hall