Review: Kollapse ‘AR’

If you have never heard of Kollapse up until now, let me tell you that this is the perfect time to get to know them, as they have just released their sophomore album AR. If you don’t speak Danish, you’d be surprised to know that it means… scar. And after having given it a few dozen listens, I can see how fitting of a name it is, as it is as tortuous, abrasive and raw as it can get. Trust me, it is a good thing.

The Aalborg-based trio already provided us with some sweet quality sludge with their debut album in 2021 called Sult (or hunger, in the language of Andersen) and toured fairly extensively in Europe for the good part of 2022 and 2023. Now that they are back with seven new noisy gems, I will try my very best to explain why this album will appear in your album of the year lists when December comes.

AR has the particularity of being fairly short for a sludge album, not quite making to the thirty-five-minute mark, but those thirty-four minutes and change will serve as the perfect outlet to let everything go and just go ham with the headbangs. Also, it feels like a much longer album when you listen to it in its entirety from the deliciously dark self-titled intro AR, which sounds just like any scar on your body would, to the purgative closing track Transformation. This record will leave a significant trace in your mind and your ears.

Sludge metal is an acquired taste, not everybody likes it, not everybody gets it, but those who do will definitely see the appeal of AR as a full-length album because of the melodies surrounding the bleak themes usually tackled in this genre. When you get into tracks like Død (‘death’ in Danish) or Dekomposition (I’m not translating that one), it is so easy to get completely sucked in and, as the kids say these days, be in their feels.

Their introspective approach to grief and pain must be highlighted as one of the things that makes AR unique..

I certainly was when listening to this album, but those two stuck with me, not only as they are the longest tracks, but also because I could just close my eyes and imagine how it would sound live, that alone convinced me, and I am sure it will convince plenty of sludge kings, queens and other gender non-conforming monarchs.

Every single title of this album summarises so harmoniously the bleak reality of our existence, adding the great riff, like on Form and Kokon, the compelling drums on Dekomposition and Autofagia, and doing it solely in Danish, you cannot be unimpressed by it. Or you can, but you would be wrong because it’s that good.

After listening to this, I felt a little bit short-changed, but it was worth it. Their introspective approach to grief and pain must be highlighted as one of the things that makes AR unique, catchy and rage-filled, just how I like my sludge metal. Going from hardcore breaks to quiet piano moments to more angst and rage, Kollapse did such an amazing job with this second album, which will hopefully see them tour near you sometime in the summer or autumn.

Having been lucky to see them play live in the past, you can rest assured that you will have a swell time headbanging with them. It won’t be a party you want to go to, but it’ll certainly be a party you’ll regret missing.

Label: Fysisk Format
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Nessie Spencer