It’s been two years since I reviewed Lost In Tartarus, the debut album from Norwegian scumbags Shevils so, as I head towards the last few weeks of 2015, it’s nice to hear that, on their new offering The White Sea, little has changed with the band.
Still treading a similar path to Canadian ragers Cancer Bats, The White Sea is a brutal, unforgiving affair. Thirty-odd minutes of scabby vocals and abrasive riffs, each track from opener “I Wear The Skies” to “Black Summer” skids past in a dust storm off grinding, scraping nastiness. “Wordsmiths” on the other hand, may be less frantic but is still nonetheless as potent as something like say “One Thousand Years” where the band demonstrate a couldn’t-give-a-fuck swagger about their sound.
Back at the beginning of 2014, I said that Shevils sounded like they’re the sort of band who are more at home in a grotty rehearsal room bashing out proper punk rock than they would be stuck in the early morning heat of a shitty slot on Warped. It’s 2015 and I’m listening to them smashing out the distorted, chaotic title track of this album and I stand by that statement.
Sometimes music isn’t about making a shitload of money, sometimes it isn’t about being the best at what you do. Sometimes it isn’t even about being the best musicians on the planet. It’s about being honest, passionate and doing it because you enjoy it. The White Sea is one of those albums that ticks all of those boxes.
Track Listing:
01. I Wear The Skies
02. We Could Leave The World
03. One Thousand Years
04. The Death Of Silence
05. Black Summer
06. Shivers
07. Wordsmiths
08. Fireflies
09. When Will I See You Again?
10. The White Sea
Run Time: 31:11
Release Date: November 6, 2015
Check out the song “One Thousand Years” here.
