PREMIERE: Årabrot Makes Us Sick—Listen to “Mea Culpa” Before the Norwegian Rockers’ U.S. Tour

Photo by Andre Loyning

Dadaism, rage, religion, sex, and humor converge in an onslaught of scuzz on You Bunch of Idiots, the upcoming EP from Norwegian noise rock auteurs, Årabrot. The record—the Spelleman Award-winning band’s second release in a year that also saw its frontman Kjetil Nernes triumph over a terrifying bout of throat cancer—rounds out a trilogy of EPs that includes the sacrilegious insanity of 2013’s Murder as Art and the slithering perversions and experimentations of last fall’s I Modi.

Nernes describes You Bunch of Idiots as an exploration of “the darker side of post-carnal desires: anger, regretfulness, a bewildered state of mind,” but here it seems that one man’s bewilderment is another man’s finger hovering over the detonator of a doomsday device while he entertains the idea of ending the world. That casual (and sometimes playful) disregard for humanity and all its conventions that persists throughout the EP comes to a head on its first single, “Mea Culpa,” which Nernes penned while drinking alone in an old London pub on a dismal afternoon shortly before learning the full extent of his health condition. “I didn't know how seriously ill I was at the time but something within didn't feel quite right. The gargoyles on the Victorian houses opposite [the pub] were gazing down at me.” In spite of its perilous roots, the song embraces physical and mental unrest with abrasive sonic moods and scathing observations anchored with a cloyingly catchy refrain of, “Oh, it makes me sick!”

You Bunch of Idiots arrives 6/23 on Eolian Empire in North America and on Fysisk Format in Europe. To celebrate, Årabrot will bring its ferocious live show to the states for a three-week tour. Listen to “Mea Culpa” now, and go see Årabrot destroy a town near you soon.

Catch Årabrot on tour with Ghold in the United States (and at one Canada date) this summer: 6/24/2015 O’Brien’s Pub – Boston, MA
6/26/2015 The Depot – York, PA
6/27/2015 Now That’s Class – Cleveland, OH
6/29/2015 The Burlington – Chicago, IL
6/30/2015 Fubar – St Louis, MO
7/01/2015 Jackpot Saloon – Lawrence, KS
7/02/2015 Hi Dive – Denver, CO
7/03/2015 Kilby Court – Salt Lake, City, UT
7/05/2015 The Highline – Seattle, WA
7/06/2015 The Hindenburg – Vancouver, BC
7/07/2015 Rotture – Portland, OR
7/08/2015 Starlite Lounge – Sacramento, CA w/ Dispirit, Lycus
7/09/2015 SF Eagle – San Francisco, CA
7/10/2015 605 E 4th Street – Los Angeles, CA
7/11/2015 Exploding Heart Gallery – Tucson, AZ
7/12/2015 Lowbrow Palace – El Paso, TX
7/14/2015 Holy Mountain – Austin, TX w/ Pinkish Black
7/15/2015 Siberia – New Orleans, LA w/ Pinkish Black
7/16/2015 The 529 – Atlanta, GA w/ Pinkish Black
7/17/2015 Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC w/ Pinkish Black
7/18/2015 Strange Matter – Richmond, VA w/ Pinkish Black
7/19/2015 The Studio, Webster Hall – New York, NY w/ Pinkish Black