The mesmerizing debut from Norway's
Kaizers Orchestra is nothing short of a revelation. The sextet unleashes both fury and atmosphere from a heady base of Nordic and Eastern-European folk music. While a whole slew of Scandinavian groups -- (Vasen) and (
Hedningarna) -- with the same kind of "rock-based" agenda have emerged in recent years,
the Kaizers don't fiddle around with sequencers and keyboards, opting instead for the primal beating of oil drums and the hellbound carnival lurch of a pump organ. There isn't a single moment on Ompa Til du Dør that isn't completely riveting. From the blistering opener "Kontroll på Kontinentet" through the Salvation Army Band closer "Mr. Kaizer Hans Constanze and Meg," the band maintains a level of energy and creativity that bubbles like beads of sweat and burns like a mountain train. Lead singer
Janove Ottesen sounds like
the Cramps' Lux Interior devouring
Cab Calloway who's simultaneously fronting
Morphine, and when the rest of the members jump in on a call-and-response jam like "Resistansen" it's like a revival. This is electrifying music that transcends any language barrier, as the power and excitement behind it is universal. Known regionally as an unparalleled live act,
the Kaizers are reinventing Scandinavian music while maintaining a firm grip on the past, and like their black metal and folk-rock contemporaries
Opeth and
Garmarna, they're doing it in a style all their own. ~ James Christopher Monger