On February 14th, Norwegian black ‘n’ roll miscreants Kvelertak are set to drop their fourth album Splid, the band’s first featuring new singer Ivar Nikolaisen. Late last year, they premiered the lead single, “Bråtebrann,”off the LP; now they’ve followed it up with “Crack of Doom,” which is one of the group’s very few songs with English lyrics and includes guest vocals by Mastodon’s Troy Sanders. The rollicking cut comes accompanied with a striking, cinematic music video directed by the award-winning photographer and director Stian Andersen, who previously helmed the band’s clips for “Kvelertak” and “Bronsegud.”
“Ever heard of the Maya Apocalypse? Johannes Stöffler? Harold Camping? Are you afraid that the religious leaders, scientists, or the doomsday preachers may be right?,” the band commented in a joint statement. “Have no fear! They were all wrong. But now, Kvelertak has come to prophesize Ragnarok, straight into your heart and soul. The Crack of Doom shines on us all!”
Kvelertak hit up Sanders about a guest appearance after writing the tune and he happily agreed. “We sent Troy a demo of the song because there were a couple of parts we felt would fit his voice very well and lift the song,” they continued. “Luckily, he liked the track and was keen to do it. He got some scratch vocal tracks and some guidelines but was free to do it however he wanted. What we got back was even better than what we could hope for. We’re extremely proud to have him featured on this song, and with Troy being American, it felt natural to just do the whole thing in English.”
Listen and watch below. Like Kvelertak’s first two albums, 2010’s self-titled offering and 2013’s Meir, Splid was recorded with Converge guitarist and noted producer-engineer Kurt Ballou (Code Orange, Every Time I Die, High on Fire) at his GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts.
