Dunbarrow are a young sound with old roots that stretch deeply into the fertile soil of Pentagram-style doom, seventies-style hard rock, folk music, and (I argued recently) even the colorful, spirited world of Norwegian classical music itself. Granted these elements may not all surface consciously, which is a large part of what I find attractive (dare I say charming?) about the Haugesund five-piecer’s sound. It’s heavy, but in ways that transcend the crackling growl of their amps or the downtuned warmth of their instruments.

This is deep music not only musically, but lyrically as well. Growing up in a land so steeped in legends planted in a continent that has had its share of real-life secrets nestled in its fog covered mountains, I wonder how this has effected the psyche of all involved in the project. One thing is for certain, Dunbarrow’s songs leave plenty to the imagination and will beckon you return again and again in search of clues as to their meaning.

Today, Doomed & Stoned presents the music video for the song “On Your Trail,” taken from their stunning sophomore spin, ‘Dunbarrow II’ (2018) on RidingEasy Records. While the visuals may help to apprehend the words, it is but one visual interpretation of what is possible. The answers belong to the dark world of the listener’s mind, for Dunbarrow truly are the dark poets of this generation.

Lyrics

You might turn around
Crack a stick on the ground
And I’ll hear ya

I might lose your scent
By a brook
But your stench cannot clear ya

You can run you can hide
But the forest has eyes
You’ll discover
That I’m on your trail
And there’s no turning back
From me, brother

You took a wrong turn
With the bridges you burn
And realized too late
That you’d gone too far
From sunlight or star
In my hands lie your fate

The deal is done the price is payed
With gold and silver
Your end was made

The prey starts to run
And the hunt has begun
Overtakes you
When you turn your back
At a turn in the track
And I break you

Thought you could win
With a life full of sin
No use to pretend
For you won’t prevail
When your on my trail
It leads to the end

The deal is done the price is payed
With gold and silver
Your end was made

You spin to deceive
This web you believe
But will you keep track
As it spins round your back

I don’t think the Norwegian heavy scene gets quite enough love, at least not many know the rich diversity of expression that’s waiting to be found just a few steps underground in a small city like Haugesund. It is here that we are reunited with DUNBARROW, who we’ve had a long relationship with, albeit across great distances.

The band has come a long way since the demo days, but the heart and soul of their sound remains bright and recognizable, a unique example of the classic rock stylings that could have only developed in The Land of Fjords, Trolls, and Vikings. I hasten to add to these national distinctives one of my favorite composers, Edvard Grieg, famous for his short character pieces for piano and orchestra. It may be a stretch to try to connect the dots directly to this proud heritage instead of the more obvious comparator a world away, Pentagram, but I can’t help but think of it every time I listen to this incredible quartet.

In many ways ‘Dunbarrow II’ (2018), the brilliant follow-up to 'Dunbarrow’ (2016) expresses itself in a more nuanced fashion than its predecessor. Don’t worry; there is not an unpleasant surprise to be found on the new record. What you will find is increasing care to craftsmanship and the attention to detail that makes each of these nine songs stand out as individual pieces, with a character all their own.

Not only does the band sound tighter than ever, Espen Andersen (vocals), Kenneth Lønning (guitar), Eirik Øvregård (guitar), Pål Gunnar (drums), Sondre Berge Engedal (bass) have worked hard to wed their sound to words that mine the depths of the human experience and collective psyche. Each track bears a tale – at times cryptic, at times tragic – with the lyrical content matching the musical narrative beautifully (see: “On Your Trail”), even magically (as in the closing moments of “The Wolf”).

Today, Doomed & Stoned is premiering the third single from the new album, “On This Night.” Its words will haunt you, the low-fi instrumentation working perfectly to set the mood. Look for the release of Dunbarrow II on vinyl and CD via RidingEasy Records on September 14th, available for pre-order here.

Some Buzz

There’s a hauntingly classic feel to Dunbarrow’s sound that gives it, in the band’s own words, “an eerie rawness.” It’s not raw in a lo-fi or distorted sense — far from it, the production is exceptionally clean and powerful. It’s the vibe to the music that has a dreamlike and ghostly quality, like a mysterious recording imprinted onto an old cassette tape.

Dunbarrow’s pristine, unadorned sound shares the unpretentious brilliance of classic heavy progenitors jamming in basements and barns, before the big budgets and bloated habits diluted hard rock records into an echo chamber awash in reverb and layered in distant, screeching hobbits. “It’s a heavy sounding record without being just tons of over-distorted guitar tracks,” says guitarist Kenneth Lønning. “We’ve never been fascinated by that, and we’re trying to push in the other direction.” Its heft comes from the band’s use of space in their songs.

Without the Haugesund, Norway quintet’s exceptional musicianship, such an intimate sound would be impossible. Drummer Pål Gunnar Dale sets the skeletal core with driving urgency and tastefully punctuating triplet fills, Bassist Sondre Berge Engedal slinks throughout with the limber bounce of John Paul Jones, while Lønning’s and Eirik Øvregård’s guitars weave dark, bluesy tapestries with emphasis on melodic chord structures without burying them in distortion or other effects. Vocalist Espen Andersen ties it all together with his warm, folky delivery that gives it all the feel of a bygone era of storytelling in song.

“Maybe more than the previous record, this one is more vocal driven,” Lønning says. “But it still has those quirky transitions, eerie build ups, folk-inspired parts and the haunting solos.” Many of the album’s poetic lyrics were written by former bassist/vocalist Richard Chappell, whose writing personifies the group. Along with the album’s running theme of love and despair, is that of recognizing one’s own dark sides and developing your shadows into something you can control, inspired of the work by Carl Jung.

Key to the band’s impressive sound is that the singer is also the recording and mixing engineer. Andersen also recorded the band’s excellent 2016 debut (formally released worldwide by RidingEasy in late 2017), now with more studio experience for both Andersen and the band, Dunbarrow II is a truly refined experience. To further perfect their sound, the group teamed up with one of the most prominent producers in Norway, Christer Cederberg (Anathema, Tristania) for the first few days in order to get the sound just right. Then, Espen did the rest. The result is as eponymous and definitive as its title.

Dunbarrow II will be available on LP, CD and download on RidingEasy Records on September 14th, 2018. (RidingEasy Records)

Earlier in the year, I reviewed the first few releases by a remarkable seventies-flavored hard rock and doom metal quartet operating out of Trondheim, Norway called DUNBARROW. Since then, the band has announced a new singer and given us a new single. Espen Andersen is, in a word, incredible – especially in his ability to conjure the fresh, wicked spirit of early Pentagram. Once I heard “Lucifer’s Child” I was sold. When I heard the band, new singer and all, was poised to release their debut full-length on January 29th, I had to track down the band for an interview! What follows is our exchange.

So tell us about Dunbarrow. This may be a new name to a good number of our readers. What is your origin story?

Well, we’ve been playing together for about seven years. Different band names, different genres from punk to blues rock, and now doom. We came together when we started at the same school in 2008. Sondre and Kenneth had known each other and played in several bands for some time, but when we crashed into Eirik and Richard it was the start of something completely different. They didn’t know how to play, really, which brought a kind of freedom to the whole thing. So we started from scratch. We spent all of our time in Richard’s basement making riffs and listening to records. After a while we discovered all of these great bands we never had heard of. Pentagram, Norrsken, Witchcraft, Granicus, Bang!, Leaf Hound, Jerusalem. The list goes on and on. We started to play really well together and at the same time we built a very strong friendship.

So after going through these different periods, heavily influenced by what we were listening to, we decided to change names for the last time and find a direction for the band. This was at the time we were moving from our hometown Haugesund at the west coast of Norway to Trondheim, which is further north, to go to University. Not everyone of us needed to go to Trondheim, but we all wanted to play together. So we all went. “You Knew I Was a Snake” was made the first half year in Trondheim. Since then we’ve been developing in that direction, hailing towards Pentagram and the fantastic first album by Witchcraft.

After three years in Trondheim, Richard decided that he had to do something else with his life than what he was doing at the time. It wasn’t really a band issue, but we were all feeling it. So we decided to part ways, and Richard went to Italy and started traveling. We still have a very good relationship, and he’s still doing some lyrics for us. He’s truly a brilliant writer. When Richard left we had to look for options. The first one that came to mind was Espen, who did the recording of “You Knew I Was a Snake” a couple of years earlier. We didn’t know him that well, but we had heard him singing a couple of times. When he came for the first rehearsal it was just perfect. We knew he would work.

Having followed you guys from the very start, I was admittedly disappointed to hear you were getting a new vocalist, that was until I heard Lucifer’s Child, which I’ve really been enjoying.

Since Richard left and we lacked both a bassist and a vocalist, Espen had to learn to play bass and sing at the same time. Originally he was mainly a guitarist, not even a singer. We did two gigs with that line-up before we started talking about the album. Sondre, which originally were a fantastic bass player had been playing drums for years because Richard had been playing bass. And now we just realized that we should look for a new drummer and let Sondre revisit his magic on the bass (you should notice the bass lines on “Lucifer’s Child”). And so we did. Espen got in touch with a guy by the name of Kim Henry Kling who wanted to do help us out on the album. Unfortunately, he’s still not an official member - though we want him to. He’s really talented.

Tell us how you achieve that remarkable vintage Bobbly Liebling doom sound.

About our sound, I think it’s heavily inspired by the sound of Witchcraft’s first and second album. Letting the amps do the work without too much clutter. My pedalboard is pretty much a chromatic tuner plugged into an Orange Rockerverb 50. We don’t know much about amps, but we do know what we like. So the try and fail method has worked really well for us. Always experimenting, spending hours finding the right sound. We never liked the overproduced, things that are too perfect. So for the album we recorded live. Everyone in one room. It was very powerful. I think we all performed better playing together than playing one by one on headphones.

The underground doom-stoner scene is absolutely erupting with creativity. There are so many bands producing so much new music, much of it very, very good, that we’re finding it impossible to cover it all. What are you thoughts about the revolutionary return to the traditional metal, protometal, and classic rock vibe?

Yes, indeed, the wave has been getting bigger and bigger over the years. When it comes to the current scene, we’re not as updated as we should - at least not outside Scandinavia. We find inspiration in every corner of music, so we’re not always updated on the newest acts in the doom genre. I actually don’t know a lot of these bands, which to me is very exciting! We have followed all the Scandinavian bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft, Horisont, Brutus, and Troubled Horse. But they’ve been around for some time now. Some new ones we really like is Blood Ceremony, Blues Pills, Skogen Brinner, and Vidunder.

I think it’s quite fascinating how these kind of movements start and how it’s happening simultaneously a lot of places in the world. We have grown up in the era of electronic music, superstar DJs, and what not. We didn’t fit into that whole thing. So we searched for something more raw, less produced, more genuine in a way. Back to basics. Listening to Bobby pouring his heart out on “Last Days Here” gets me every time. I think a lot of people had the same experience.

I’m so excited for your upcoming album! What can you tell us about it and your plans to tour upon its release?

Regarding our debut album we’re releasing it on Heksekunst Productions, which is a small label run by Espen Andersen, who is our new vocalist. He’s focusing mainly on bands like ourselves. We will be the first full length he releases. You should check out www.heksekunstproductions.com. We’re sending the album to a lot of bigger labels anyway, such as Rise Above Records. Leading up to your next question, getting signed to a bigger label and be able to tour outside Norway would be a big dream come true for us. We’ve always treated it as a hobby, but if we got the chance we would definitely go for it. Espen and Eirik is on their last year at the university and I have one more year. Sondre is already working. We want to take it as far as we can.

We’re very excited about releasing our debut album, and also very anxious about people liking it or not. We hope people will like it as much as we do. It’s been a lot of work over several years, even though we recorded it in just a week. Straight after the release we’re going on a brief Norwegian tour, playing in Bergen, Haugesund, Stavanger, Oslo and Trondheim. Some more dates may be announced as well. For the summer we’re hoping for international gigs. A tour would be great too. We’ll start working on that very soon.

‘Dunbarrow’ (2016) drops January 25th on Heksekunst Productions. You can pre-order it here.