In an era where experimental music often feels over-calculated or derivative, Gothenburg’s underground force Blessings return as true outliers—vital, visceral, and unapologetically loud.
With their third full-length album, ‘Blodsträngen’, set for release on August 1st via Pelagic Records, the Swedish four-piece invites listeners into a darkly exhilarating evolution: a fusion of dissonant hardcore, left-field electronics, and relentless innovation.
Following the astonishing—and agonizingly underrated—‘Biskopskniven’ (2021), their new singles, “Strings of Red” and “No Good Things” offer a spine-tingling glimpse into the chaos and cohesion that define ‘Blodsträngen’: an album where no sound is sacred and no boundary left uncrossed.
“Strings of Red” opens with hypnotic percussion loops before detonating into a double-time thrash assault. Vocalists Fredrik Karlsson and John G. Winther (also of Barrens, Scraps of Tape, and solo endeavors) unleash a guttural urgency that unravels into a dizzying synth-led breakdown—equal parts euphoria and delirium. “No Good Things”, by contrast, is a masterclass in tension and contrast: grotesque bass tones collide with playful, childlike synths before being swallowed by monstrous guitars and blast beats worthy of the darkest metal.
This isn’t just a return. It’s a reinvention.
All four members of Blessings are veterans of Scandinavian hardcore, punk, and experimental scenes. But here, they distill their disparate influences—noise rock, post-metal, avant-garde electronics—into something unmistakably their own. Blodsträngen (“The Bloodline”) isn’t just an album. It’s a declaration: fierce, filthy, and fearless.
RIYL: At The Drive-In, Converge, Trap Them, Young Widows, and anyone chasing the bleeding edge of heaviness.