STONEGARD – Arrows

The long-awaited debut from Norwegian Metallers Stonegard is finally here, and it has been worth the wait. Produced by Daniel Bergstrand (In Flames, Meshuggah), Arrows is a tremendous effort. With this album, Stonegard’s up for a busy year.

Daniel Bergstrand has given the album a sharp-edged, dry, and raw sound. The drums are high-pitched and mixed loud, and they get in your face just like the drums on any Korn album. In the middle lies around 500 angry guitars, or so it sounds. The vocals are outstanding, and even though Torgrim Torve cracks a few times, it just further demonstrates the band’s intensity and power.

On a song like “Goldbar,” Torve also shows another side of his skills, and the ballad proves that Stonegard has plenty to offer. He sometimes sounds a bit like Chris Cornell on a song like “Resistance,” and sometimes a bit like James Hetfield on “Arrows,” and a tie to Scott Weiland might also be heard. Most importantly though, most of the time he is just himself; and that’s a reflection regarding the rest of the band too. This is Stonegard, not a copy of another band.

“Triggerfinger” is a fast and intense stand out track. Their current single, “Barricades,” is one of the highlights as well, containing impressive machine gun bass drums by Erlend Gjerde. The title track is a delight after the instrumental opening of “Ghost Circles,” and it sets the standard for this 35-minute awesome debut album.

Stonegard keeps a pretty Progressive profile on many of these tracks, and this band possesses unique songwriting skills. “The White Shaded Lie” is their Progressive masterpiece on Arrows, with great guitar parts and many challenging musical parts. In “At Arms Length,” singer Torgrim Torve and guitar player Ronny Flissundet (vocalist and guitar player in his own band Kite) provide great vocal arrangements, and everything is well-arranged, well-played and thought through to every slightest detail.

Arrows indeed is an outstanding debut, and Stonegard deserves headlines outside of Norway with this one. They have been around for a while, but it has been a wise decision waiting to record their debut. Now, Stonegard has developed a hard-hitting sound, which could take them a long way!