Elias Rønnenfelt
Heavy Glory

THE REVIEW

First solo album from the frontman of the Danish band Iceage, known in the contemporary underground and punk scene.

With this record, in my opinion, our endlessly brash and wrecked author reaches heights in genres that he had only barely touched with his band and finds a totally different identity from his previous one (will he adapt it to the band, yes, no, who knows?!) and manages to create an elegantly dirty and visibly instinctive folk rock album, something crafted from the gut, like a painting made without any particular technical notions or knowledge of color. This album manages to touch those strings of the soul that not everyone likes to come into contact with, but it shows that when art does not compromise with the market and keeps its authenticity, it has something visceral that various post-punk and punk bands today struggle to find.

The originality can also be found in tracks like "Like lovers do," an apparently uptempo ballad but with a slowness and disillusioned mood, in the epileptic "Worm grew a spine," in the psychedelic and melancholic "Close," and finally the reminiscent and suspended "River of Madeleine." "Another round" is perhaps the least original among them all, though the two final covers are rearranged in his style and performed divinely. Also noteworthy is the peculiar and minimal "Soldier Song" with another remarkable artist, Joanne Robertson.

Ultimately, it's an album that needs to be understood more than listened to, and felt rather than judged at first glance.

Too overlooked by various reviewers and media outlets, aware that it will probably remain a hidden gem—or maybe not, time will tell.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying the newly released album.