Hi, everyone. Frenchthony Frytano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new album from Honningbarna – Soft Spot.

Here we have a brand new LP from the Norwegian band Honningbarna, which I just happened to try out based on a few recommendations and buzz that I saw on the internet. Gave it a try, was instantly blown away by the energy and ferocity the band was bringing to the recordings on this record. My initial thoughts after that were: Wow, cool, awesome, fresh new band bringing something exciting to the scene, maybe some new outfit with a big career ahead of them. But I was actually shocked to find this band is not new in the slightest, at all.

In fact, Soft Spot is like their seven full-length LP, if I'm correct. They also have EPs and singles going all the way back to about 2010. So Honningbarna are pretty much like veterans at this point. I actually think that shows up in the creativity and versatility on this album, too. Especially when you consider how boilerplate hardcore punk some of their earlier works were outside of the band's very surprising adoption of cello in a lot of their tracks. But outside of that, I wouldn't say a lot of this band's early work is really reinventing the punk wheel.

But again, I was really surprised by the flavors and sounds held within this new album and was gripped right from the opening track, which is this spoken word piece, which functions as like an aged retrospective where the protagonist is told he's living in a simulation. Then from there, he just jumps through different ages and experiences in life. Six years old, being told that he might drown in the pool if he doesn't wait a certain amount of time after eating. Then at 14, he comes to grips with his looks and self-image. At 17, he talks about being mean and crass in a way and often calls people later on. But then is being checked on that by people around him? Is he getting used to or gaining a better understanding of social norms? From here, he's maintaining a factory job. He's aging. He's watching his grandfather pass away. He rises to a position of prominence in a way. He has a famous Norwegian soccer player saying that they're best friends.

It's a really crazy series of rapid fire references to different experiences. It all reads like a very nutty meditation on the big highs and lows, all the major moments that make life worth living.

That very deep thirst for life is also made clear on the following track, "Schäfer", whose lyrics and very chaotic performance reinforce those feelings. Meanwhile, the title of the next track on the record, "Amor Fati", is a Latin phrase meaning love of fate. The song's lyrics pretty much read as being very accepting and understanding of the necessary ups and downs that life may bring us through, really appreciating what is fated.

Really out of the gate, this record is coming through with a lot of heavy philosophy, and it manifests in different ways throughout the rest of the project. However, I probably should talk a little bit more about the music since that truly was the draw for me to this LP because the performances, the drumming, the guitar work, especially the vocals on this record, are just so fantastically raw and wild as hell as the band brings back some of the craziest and most just out of control sounds of post-hardcore in the 2000s, talking about bands like Blood Brothers, especially Refused, a little Snapcase as well.

I feel like At the Drive In fans can even appreciate what is going on with this record – that is if they don't necessarily require the more proggy elements of the band's sound and don't mind that being swapped out for, I don't know, maybe some more noise rock or even some garage during moments in the tracklist that are a bit more anthemic and melodic. Because really the main appeal of this record for me is just how intensely thrilling and blown out a lot of it is, even as it explores different vibes and sub-genres and experimental and left-field rock.

On "Schäfer", which I just mentioned a little bit before, you do get blistering post-hardcore with grinding bass riffs, throat shredding screams, twittering percussive noises that all build up to these absolutely fried guitar riffs, sinister leads, top with vocals that sound like they are being screamed at me through 100 megaphones all at once. Meanwhile, "Amor Fati" is this really chilly, echo-drenched post-punk with propulsive drums that reads as being influenced by early Iceage a little bit, but then it kicks into gear with more frenzied post-hardcore guitars with all these squawking, dive-bombing leads and licks.

Then after this, "MP5" is like noise rock of the highest order. There's almost an industrial flavor to how primal and groovy the verses of the track are, too, which are already pretty heavy and abrasive, but then the track just kicks into full gear on the hook with these insane layers of distortion, what sounds like maybe a phaser in there, too. It's so freaking bright and harsh. It's like the sonic equivalent of getting maced.

Then after this, we have what seems to be the biggest track on the record, a breather. It's like a catchy, more melodic rock anthem, bit of an indie tinge to it. "Festen som aldri stopper" is the name of the track. They sing it in the song. There really are some chime-y guitar chords and drums on this one that remind me of Room on Fire-era Strokes, maybe little Hives. But immediately after this in the tracklist, we are right back to the aggression and the grime and the linear grooves, which also features more filters, what sounds like phasers to an atmosphere that makes the whole sound like an electronic dance track that you would play a rave. The band fully embraces this subtle allusion on the back end of the song with these heavy synth bass parts.

Yeah, it's a crazy shift to have gone from something that sounds so punky and so rock-centric in its first moments to something that sounds vaguely like something you could drop in a DJ set.

The band is not done yet because there's more impressive versatility as the record continues into its final leg with "Hvilke splinter", which has these crazy, blasty passages and quickly strung guitars that read as very black metal-coated. "King Spud" has really fantastically pulled off Gang of Four vibes with its vocals, its bass, the synthesizers have a bit of an eerie Joy Division quality to it, too. They pull it together so well into something that is just its own type and level of abrasiveness, while also writing some stupidly catchy refrains in the process.

Given some of the guitar work on the record, "Rød bic" is a bit of a metal crossover, I would say, with handily the most crunchy and scorched riffs on the entire album in the second half.

The second to last track on the record provides an interesting lyrical angle when continuing to explore the project's themes of existentialism using Hezbollah, of all things, as a point of comparison, almost asking the listener, What would you die for? / What would you be a martyr for in life?

We got a super solid closer on the record as well.

All I got to say is just what a sick ass album. I mean, for sure, there are some spots that come across as maybe a bit too steeped in their influences. The record being 40 minutes in length and as loud and as nasty as it is, I mean, it's definitely going to wear on you a bit. Yeah, as far as the sound of this album goes, it's most definitely not for the faint of heart, I'll say that.

But again, what a sick, nasty record that, in my opinion, is really doing this classic 2000s post-hardcore sound right, doing it justice. Again, even cooler that the band has been at this for such a long time and is still sounding amazing this deep into their discography, which is why I'm feeling a decent to strong 8 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Honningbarna, forever.