ALBUM REVIEW: Drøm – Halshug

Copenhagen punk outfit HALSHUG take a huge amount from the heritage of the punk scenes that came before them. Sighting the movements in Berlin and across Europe in the underground scenes as an inspiration, they’ve produced an authentic representation of the disillusioned sound. In their latest album, Drøm, however, is there anything else that HALSHUG bring to the table, offering nods towards other peripheral genres that came from the huge punk movement?

Our beginnings emerge in the form of Kæmper Imod, a track that rolls around the drum kit, finding its feet on a smattering snare. It takes you by surprise when the battering punk onslaught. It’s a frenzied, chaos rampage into a traditional noise fest of punk ideals. However, Do Igen finds a little more of a modern inflection to its brand of punk rock, still crashing and unabashed, but playing around more with the tonal pallet of what can be achieved to create individuality to each song. The same can be said for Fantasi, which brings the pace down a notch, gradually building up to something much more impactful that constant, hard lined anarchy. It maintains the volatile intention with the trope shouted lyrics are the pinnacle of the genre.

Interestingly, Give Alting Op is instantly taking its inspiration from a much more industrial perspective, with the layer of thick distortion and fuzz over both vocals and guitars. There’s a sense of swagger and ardent confidence that pulls everything together for a track with just enough intrigue to keep you revisiting. While the tone is a complete carbon copy from the previous track, in terms of spontaneity, Spejl is lacking somewhat. Evidently reparative in nature, it fails to pull the same kind of interest as Give Alting Op, though it does its best, the riff themselves are just too generic.

02.42 is another jab at a more distinct, industrial moment, with echoing, surreal metallic tones reverberating around, crashing together in a grinding swirl of off sounds, bouncing off one another to eventually create some form of mechanical beating heart. It’s a decent bit of experimentation that give Drøm some edge and proves HALSHUG have more going for them than simple punk stereotyping. Taenk På Dig Selv is therefore much better received when it pulls back to the chunky power chord movements and sparky distortion as the pure unbridled bedlam unleashes itself.

Ingen Kontrol and Et Andet Sted bring in more pounding riffs that edge on the stoner and doom metal evolution of punk at times, before snatching it back into unpredictable narrative of frenzied drums and disillusioned screams. There’s for sure a lot more melody than brazen dissonance here, and some sonic diversity but proves that maybe short form tracks are the best way to digest the genre in some cases.

Illusion is the longest track on the record, at five minutes twenty, with industrial drones and moans rattling over a constant beat, it’s much more laid back than anything else on the album. There are absolutely no vocals, which will disappoint some and intrigue others, opting instead to take its time to create an ambience before lulling you into the pulse of its main riff. It’s definitely got the bearings of something much bigger and more expansive for HALSHUG, who have really surpassed the extremes of standard punk ideas, drawn everything back and achieved a momentous post punk creation with this final effort.

HALSHUG seem to prove themselves something of an enigma on Drøm. While in the main sticking to the tried and tested of punk staples, if this is all you require then there’s plenty to chuck yourself around to here. However, if you’re interested in some fresh dynamics and playful experimentation into industrial and post punk sounds, there’s a real spark of something else going on beyond the heritage of punk that produced HALSHUG in the first place.

Rating: 6/10

Drøm is set for release July 19th via Southern Lord. 

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