Album Recommendation: Tundra Rock by Slomosa (2024)

Hailing from Norway, this four-piece has named their second album after the genre they both play and coined, which combines influences of classic metal from the ’70s and spaced-out desert/stoner rock of the ’90s into an electrifying sonic mix known as Tundra Rock. That description gets you most of the way there: vocals are often double-tracked like Ozzy-lead Black Sabbath, drumming is hypnotic and heavy like old Kyuss jams, and riffs are alternately pounding and melodic, pausing occasionally for dreamy moments of bliss like early QOTSA. There’s also a distinctly Scandinavian sense of shaggy perfectionism here: the production is clean and sheer, but the playing is loose enough to allow for moments of unpredictability. I can imagine Slomosa easily playing heavier covers from Sweden’s The Radio Dept. They even invoke some The Argument-era Fugazi with the mid-album instrumental “Good Mourning” transitioning into the thundering “Battling Guns.” 

And speaking of which, while all these songs rip (seriously, not a single dud in the bunch), I think “Battling Guns” is the clear standout. Hooky, heavy, and featuring a stellar bass solo (we love a good bass player around these parts), it’s been on repeat since the first listen. The video for it is also an exciting watch and demonstrates the easy rapport between these musicians that bodes well for their future career. It’s also refreshingly political, with the band showing support for the people of Gaza, who have been subjected to the kind of violence and terror flashed on screen—acknowledging, of course, the absurdity and horror of all war, especially the kind perpetuated by colonialist powers. While the mushroom cloud has long been an extreme image that many hard rock bands have deployed for simple shock value, here, where the band ends the video eating watermelon in silence, the threat of nuclear annihilation seems apt. And while I’m stoked to read that the band seems to be in this for the long haul (when asked in a recent interview if they could be in any band at any time in history, the bassist replied, “No, I just want to be in Slomosa,” to which the lead singer chimed in, “Slomosa in 2050”), they’ve already released a stone-cold classic. Dim the lights, light some incense, turn up the bass and put this bad boy on—you won’t regret it.