Since 2013, Ondt Blod have delivered big rock riffs and ferocious hardcore, all sung in a distinctly Northern Norwegian voice. Eight years after their last album, they return with Bauta, released on 13 March.
Featuring nine songs about broken hearts and clenched fists, snowmobiles and home-distilled spirits, chain gangs, blown-up bridges and mythological avengers, Bauta is both a synthesis and a manifesto of everything Ondt Blod represents.
“It’s men with hats and sabres who get put on pedestals. No one builds monuments or statues to ordinary people. We have to raise our own monument through our will, our work and our voice to claim a place in the world,” explains frontman Aslak Heika Hætta Bjørn about the album’s concept.
Bauta is Ondt Blod’s monument. The bold title reflects how the band sees the record standing proudly in the dense undergrowth of the Norwegian music scene. Filled with Northern Norwegian attitude and Sámi pride, the album tackles themes such as political oppression, racism and other social injustices, while also celebrating traditions like drinking spirits, riding snowmobiles and maintaining a healthy scepticism towards everything south of Saltfjellet.
Opening track AUX is a classic Ondt Blod hardcore anthem, packed with furious verses and a memorable chorus. FinnmarKING, featuring KLISH, is steeped in stories of smuggled alcohol, motorised travel and recreational life in Finnmark. The album also includes the emo power ballad Flamma, performed in collaboration with Ida Maria.
Bauta arrives eight years after the band’s previous album. “It felt like there was a lot at stake releasing music after such a long break, but all the nerves disappeared once we got into the studio,” says Aslak. “Some songs are built around ideas we’ve been working on for seven years, while others are newer. Pandemics, wars and life itself kept getting in the way.”
