AVRAK have a release date. The Norwegian band co-founded by Ted "Nocturno Culto" Skjellum — one half of DARKTHRONE — will issue their self-titled debut on October 9 via Peaceville, with first single "Unborn" out now.
The band began in November 2023 with guitarist Anders Hegna of NØD, EL KAYENNE and SVIDD GREVLING, whom Skjellum had known for over a decade. "We talked about maybe we should do something once and try it out and see what it becomes," he said. The test was a locked door. "We locked ourselves into a cabin up in the mountains for, like, five days. We had a lot of equipment with us, and we had never played together before." It could have collapsed on night one, leaving five days to sit in the wreckage. Instead the first compositions took shape inside that week.
Skjellum made one thing clear from the start: he would not be the singer. Hegna took the role, his own vocal grit a comfortable fit. Terje Kråbøl of GJENDØD, SARKE and FAUSTCOVEN joined on drums weeks later, and bassist Steinar Gundersen of KHOLD, SARKE and SATYRICON completed the lineup in time for a debut show in the band's home town of Porsgrunn in late April.
This is not DARKTHRONE by another name. "The music itself definitely differs from DARKTHRONE," Skjellum said. "It's a bit more classic heavy metal, hard rock. There could be some doom things there and maybe some black metal elements, but it's more of a classic — what should I say? — heavy, heavy metal kind of thing." He traces that to being a lifelong fan of '80s heavy metal, and to a specific preference: the European strain, darker and less party-minded than its American counterpart.
The two guitarists come at it from opposite ends. "He has the kind of, let's say, a bit of a more rock guitar sound thing, and I have the more metal guitar sound thing, and they kind of blend together," Skjellum said. "We play two different things almost all the time on this album, and it sounds really chaotic, but this is the hard part for us to be working with."
Billed as a "heavy metal voyage from the peak of the mountains to the depths of the seas", the nine tracks run on a classic heavy metal and doom backbone with synth passages and traces of black metal riffing. It was recorded, mixed and mastered at Mølla Studio by Knut Magne Valle in February 2026.
"Avrak" track listing:
- Forever Mountain (4:45)
- Unborn (4:45)
- Long May The Lums Reek (5:22)
- Rot (1:07)
- Varde (4:31)
- Cloaks Of Power (3:45)
- The Lonely Shadow (5:32)
- The Rift (5:55)
- Hav (2:47)
Source: blabbermouth.net