Evil in Oslo

Chronique

Evil in Oslo represents the Hedwig Mollestad Trio at a critical juncture in their musical development. It was released on the same day as their studio offering Black Stabat Mater. Though both are comprised of Mollestad compositions, they couldn't be more different. Black Stabat Mater is tighter, its musical terrain is more easily discerned as jazz-rock. Evil in Oslo is a different beast. Recorded in two clubs, its tracks feature jams from Mollestad's first three albums in four medleys. It's a sinister, snarling, intense offering that employs many drones alongside downtuned riffs, massive rimshots and kick drums, and mercurial bass playing. Torstein Lofthus' drumming is as thunderous as it is processional. On opener "For the Air/Ashes," he sits behind the beat just a shade as Ellen Brekken's bass drones and Mollestad's deliberate arpeggios slowly erect a jagged progression that, at the four-minute mark, erupts into grooving, meaty, hard rock. Mollestad's solo is unruly, skronky and confrontational; she melds the influences of Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix, and Sonny Sharrock. Following a brief drum solo, she takes off again, this time through a circular series of wiry riffs. On the first half of "Code of Hammurabi/The Valley," Mollestad develops the composition unhurriedly as she guides the spiraling improv along a tempered yet powerful set of dynamics that alternately plod, squall, and rumble as she tracks through psych, metal, and modal improvisation. "Lake Acid/Rastapopoulos/Arigato Bitch" finds the trio melding spacy, dramatic, abstract jazz with mutant psych-blues. The interplay between Brekken -- who adds a different dimension with her voodoo funk bassline in the first section -- and Lofthus is breathtaking with nearly symbiotic flow that allows these musicians to alternately challenge and support one another. Mollestad twins her lines and plays knotty single-string riffs as she follows Brekken into the dark labyrinth, wedding reverb, feedback, and low-register guitar pyrotechnics. The closing medley, "Laughing John/La Boulle Noir," finds all three players executing a telegraph key vamp over and again for several minutes; that is, until Mollestad begins playing modal scales underscored by raucous arpeggios in her own vanguard brand of 21st century fusion as Lofthus swings behind her on his kit. Brekken plays her instrument on stun then begins powering through chords, riffs, and overtones as she duels with Lofthus. The guitarist embraces the powerful attack and begins an evolution of approach, first tonally, then with metal tropes, razor-wire fusion cadences, psych, skronk, and doomy hard rock. Before the trio resumes their intense forward motion into the void, they state and restate the main theme riff until a muscular, Iommi-esque guitar line carries it out. The rawness, energy, power, and emotion in Evil in Oslo will delight Mollestad's fans around the world. More than this, however, it will appeal to guitar aficionados, adventurous metalheads, and truly open-eared jazz crazies. This is a gem.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo