Sweden’s dark metallic under- belly has been scratched once again, and the resultant ooze is blackened rebels Alfahanne, one of the gnarliest things to emerge from Sweden in ages.
Their new album, Blod Eld Alfa, is a thrillingly nihilistic squall that swaggers and spits in equal amounts, infused with the groove and swing of the best rock’n’roll but firmly tethered to Lucifer’s gatepost.
“This album is a mirror held up to rotten society and a journey into the dark, twisted mind of humanity and how it’s wrecking the world,” says guitarist Fredrik Sööberg. “Everything Alfahanne is about is a concept in itself. Fuck the world! That’s what we’re communicating. Hopefully we can bring back the danger and everything that is rotten and negative in rock’n’roll.”
An admirable ambition and one that is more than backed up by the snarling conviction that Alfahanne exhibit throughout the new record. Throw in a guest vocal from Kvelertak’s Erlend Hjelvik and an underlying sense of fiery-eyed ill-intent and these ghoulish Swedes have plainly hit upon a visceral and distinctive formula that should see them embraced by fans across the heaviness spectrum. And if not, Fredrik and his comrades are more than happy to go full steam ahead and wait for the inevitable collapse of civilisation.
“We live and will die with Alfahanne,” says Fredrik. “Once you’re in you give it all. It’s for life. It’s the band and the fans, the Alfa Hordes. It’s the whole concept, the Alfapocalyptic lifestyle, one way in, no way out. That’s what Alfahanne always will be about and when the music is over we will sit down and enjoy the doomed desert…”
*Blod Eld Alfa* is out now via Dark Essence
