Album Of The Week: Kvelertak Meir

I love a lot of underground metal, but I'm a pretty bad underground metal fan. Underground metal, less a scene or even a single genre and more a vast interconnected web of global subcultures, doesn't exist as a monolitic whole. But the people who are really into it, including our own Michael Nelson, often prize things like majesty and atmosphere and ferocity and technical wizardry. I mostly just like it when it's dumb and fun. I like Mastodon on Leviathan, building an entire concept around a literary classic but mostly so they can key in on the awesome idea of a giant whale smashing shit. I like seeing the Swedish death metal kings in Disfear, taking time off their legendary bands so that they can crank out an album of super-catchy blitzkrieg D-beat hardcore when the mood strikes them. I like Black Tusk, whipping beards around in stereo and throwing old-school Beastie Boys tag-team vocals into a song with the ridiculous title "Set The Dial To Your Doom." I like Baroness and Torche and especially Kylesa, plowing their way into choruses that would've been total alt-rock radio-bait 15 or 20 years ago. I like Andrew W.K., if he even counts. And that's what I like about the Norwegian band Kvelertak: They grab onto and embrace every big, dumb thrill that their genre has to offer, and they turn it into something joyous.