Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Tusmorke - Fort Bak Lyset (2016)

Norway's Tusmorke are back and I've been waiting a long time to review this one, because like their last, I really enjoyed it. One song that really got me into these guys was “All Is Lost” a track I don't think I'll ever forget. I've played it several times and it always elicits the same feeling every time I do so. But truly every song was worth listening to on 2014's Riset Bak Speilet.

Running in at about forty-five minutes, Fort Back Lyset is just about as long as we'd expect for these guys and certainly feels much longer than that with all the trippy parts that occur on this record. The band combine folk rock and progressive music together here, which sometimes lifts you up and takes you into another world altogether. To me, that's one of the best feelings that you can have in a non-metal act and if I wasn't such a big metal head, it's assured that I'd be a damn hippie. In any case, “Et Djevelsk Marenitt” definitely brings us into that funky psychedelic world, and it comes along with flutes to add a bit more Tolkien flair to the performance. Keep in mind that the song itself starts out like something you might hear in a fairy forest before it drops LSD, but I'd seriously have it no other way. Once we get past that point, there's no going back as “De Reiser Fra Oss” works to remind us that the trip has already begun and if you're not seeing the floor melt by now, you soon will. As well as the ceiling and the walls. The rest of the world might indeed look like a Dali painting doused with a hint of Tolkien or George R. R. Martin. Imagine Game Of Thrones if the production team were taking hits of acid during the design phase, or hired Lewis Caroll on Laudanum.

Other than really trippy atmospheres that make the walls and ceilings turn to butter, the band also offer plenty of catchy moments. Even though the lyrics are all performed in the band's native Norwegian this time around, these sections are so catchy that it doesn't even matter. I don't even know what “yar” means, but let me tell you, I was certainly singing right along with them during the opener “Ekebergkongen” and the disc's title track. In addition to this, there's also a little bit of a lighter piece in “Spurvehauken” which seems almost like a forlorn ballad with a psychedelic injection. The way that these guys combine psychedelic funk music with Norwegian folk is something that I think is unparalleled, and just one listen of this stellar album is all you need to be convinced of their talent. If you're looking for a literal folky trip, then please give this one a listen. There's no one out there quite like Tusmorke.

(7 Tracks, 44:00)

8/10

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