Goia Paranoia – Black Out
It’s the people who can keep calm in most situations, keep their wits about, and observe what all of the others are doing that tend to win at the game of life. Those people are usually Nordic Europeans. It’s their education that makes them this way. Typically, they aren’t very excited about many things except for decorating their houses with the latest models of chairs. But their lack of emotion has its advantages.
There’s little that should be taken too seriously by kids out in the North. Love, sex, and hatred are all things that are understood but rarely ever accessed. But these kids are smart. They understand what’s going on. Whether it’s the feeling of being in love described to a pristine love song or the dread of being cut to ribbons, Nordic musicians are the best to describe it through music.
Goia Paranoia’s “Black Out” is meant to sound like a panic attack, with the doom-rock guitar riffs chosen to substitute the sound of a heart beating so loudly that it might as well cut its way out of the chest. As you’d expect, the chunky riffs are well-balanced with strong vocal melodies. Rock music is always the perfect target practice for emotions that might be too difficult to handle in the real world, and Goia Paranoia can perfectly describe to you what an anxiety attack must feel like.
Påls butikk – Det er ikke greit
There are those who have stopped listening to rock music decades ago who would still describe it as “protest art.” To those people, rock music is a protest against things that are unjust, which, normally, do not receive the coverage in mainstream media that they should or that clash with the morality of the times. It’s about reporting on conflict that, otherwise, gets unreported.
But since rock music, in most parts of the world, has been knocked off its perch, bands are unconcerned with these kinds of things. They’d much rather try to record trendy sounds that could get them some views on TikTok.
What you have to remember is that this is not the case everywhere. In Northern Europe, classic and modern rock remain the principal musical forces. And the philosophy behind the music hasn’t changed much either.
Påls butikk’s new single, “Det er ikke greit” packs a lot of ideas. Musically, it is inspired by stadium-rock groups like The Foo Fighters as well as 90s alt-metal in the style of TOOL or Faith No More. Conceptually, this is a protest song against the normalisation of violence, a cry for people getting murdered. Playing-wise, Påls butikk keeps it tight. The performance and production work are good, and while the song nearly reaches prog-rock lengths, it’s a memorable track. Best of all, it shows that rock shouldn’t lose its identity.
