Hear Mastodon's Troy Sanders Bellow on Kvelertak's Rowdy New Song "Crack of Doom" | Revolver

Hear Mastodon's Troy Sanders Bellow on Kvelertak's Rowdy New Song "Crack of Doom"

Band's singer Ivar Nikolaisen is baptized by fire in single's cinematic video

In 2018, Norwegian party beasts Kvelertak split with owl-loving, shirt-hating frontman Erlend Hjelvik and welcomed into their ranks new singer Ivar Nikolaisen, who had previously lent guest vocals to the song "Blodtørst." With the music video for their new song "Crack of Doom," the band has officially consecrated Nikolaisen's place in the group. "It has been an amazing experience and a privilege to assist in the baptism of Ivar Nikolaisen into the ranks of the band," the other members of Kvelertak commented in a joint statement, "and putting him through the torturous conditions of ice bathing in sub-zero temperatures, setting him on fire, galloping through the forest shirtless mid-winter, or hanging him upside down from a tree."

Nikolaisen is the star of the video, but Troy Sanders may steal the spotlight in the song. The Mastodon singer-bassist brings his sinature bellow to "Crack of Doom," which is one of Kvelertak's first cuts to feature English lyrics. "We sent Troy a demo of the song because there were a couple of parts we felt would fit his voice very well and lift the song," the band said. "Luckily, he liked the track and was keen to do it. He got some scratch vocal tracks and some guidelines but was free to do it however he wanted. What we got back was even better than what we could hope for. We're extremely proud to have him featured on this song, and with Troy being American, it felt natural to just do the whole thing in English."

 "Crack of Doom" will appear on Kvelertak's upcoming fourth album, Splid, due in February via Rise Records. You can pre-order/save the LP here. It follows up the record's lead single "Brätebann," which was premiered in November. Splid was recorded at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts, with Converge's Kurt Ballou, who also manned the boards for their first two albums, 2010's self-titled offering and 2013's Meir. "Working with Kurt again has been amazing and we're extremely happy with the production," they enthused of the new album. "We've pushed ourselves to the edge this last year — musically, physically, and mentally. The result is one hour of catchy riffs, punk rock, and heavy metal influenced by a world in discord to accompany our way towards Ragnarok."