Artist: Galgeberg
Country: Norway
Label: Aftermath Music / Our Ancient Future
Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP
Year: 2025
To start off with a confession, I always approach this sort of bands with extreme precaution and an unhealthy dose of scepticism. New bands with members of well-known acts or who by other reasons enjoy a certain degree of fame or stardom usually deserve to be treated with some restraint. Indeed, it is not uncommon for this phenomenon to lead to a combination of bafflement and annoyance. With Bård “Faust” Eithun on drums and two of his mates from Blood Tsunami on the other instruments, Galgeberg is a textbook example of a band that on paper might seem interesting but in reality is nothing but a musical farce.
This 20-and-a-bit minutes EP offers six tracks of Death Metal in the Swedish fashion. The typical buzzsaw sound and melodic leads and solos are all included. But what it does not include is good music. There are a few decent riffs and on the vocal department there is something to enjoy, but, frankly, that’s really about it. Maybe it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise at all, Eithun hasn’t done anything meaningful since he left Emperor and the other musicians involved haven’t been able to impress with Blood Tsunami either.
The problem with Galgeberg actually is quite simple: it lacks proper song writing. The whole feels like an umpteenth round of rehashing old and jaded riffs and ideas. Admitted, within the narrow framework of old school (Swedish) Death Metal it is not easy to stand out and I am not saying that Edge Of Sanity-like adventurism is the way out, but the least you have to do is lay some memorable riffs to the table. I am quite sure these guys were having fun doing this, cranking out some riffs in the style they like, but evidently, this should have been kept for drunken private sessions in the rehearsal room.
If you are a stubborn Death Metal fan that never gets enough of anything that sounds remotely like Interment or Dismember and the likes, this will probably put a smile on your face. But, if you are looking for some good and substantial Death Metal, you definitely should look elsewhere. This really is as generic as Death Metal can get.
