When you name yourself after the planet’s coldest populated place, Siberia, you’d better make sure that your music delivers some harsh sounds to live up to the moniker.
Thankfully Norwegian quintet Sibiir do all that and more on their impossible-to-pigeonhole eponymous debut. Featuring seasoned musicians who made their names in the Oslo underground scene performing everything from hardcore to indie pop, this 10-tracker is peppered with black, death, technical and thrash influences and it’s an explosive, eclectic and often exciting listen. These Rats We Deny is a huge moment for them and is driven by a mountainous groove, tremolo picking and head-spinning guitarwork, while the Tool and early Mastodon cap-tip Silence Of Seagulls will win them plenty of fans. There are a few wobbles on Sibiir, particularly on the mostly instrumental album filler Apathetic and the fairly uniform thrash and hardcore fusion Erase & Adapt, but on the whole their debut is a strong opening statement from a band with plenty to say.
