Brisbane’s pop-punk upstarts Two Times Shy are soaring lofty heights as they let loose their …
For most, the “new year, new me” mantra tends to well and truly wear off by the end of the first quarter. For Norwegian rockers Blood Command, there’s a whole new sonic sheriff in town via the band’s brand new track Losing Faith.
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Deviating from the their usual musical fare and diving into some stripped-back territory alongside some Western charm, Losing Faith is certainly a shift for a band renowned for their largely high-octane output. Somehow, Losing Faith still ultimately retains the trademark Blood Command “death pop” sound amongst its more acoustic leanings.
“It’s our sad cowboy ballad,” Blood Command vocalist Nikki Brumen reveals to Hysteria, sharing a quick laugh with guitarist Yngve Andersen. “We wrote this song actually, I think, in the middle of our European tour last September. Yngve and I had a night off so we thought: let’s not give ourselves rest, which is very much our trademark, do not rest, just work every single day.”
“This song came about at a hotel in the middle of London – and we’re just super happy with it,” Brumen says. “It’s very in line with a lot of Blood Command’s themes, which is, you know, the ‘sad boi’ music. I know Yngve really wanted to write a song with this sort of theme and I was incredibly keen as well. So yeah – this is the end result!”
Coming off the back of some of the strangest years in recent memory for the music industry, Blood Command conjured their latest track with some in-house production once again courtesy of Andersen himself. Recording, mixing and mastering was handled by long-time Blood Command collaborator Simon Jackman. While the world may have shifted around the band in and beyond the pandemic years, it was business as usual to ultimately bring Losing Faith to life.
“It felt like the standard practice,” Andersen says.
“Having Yngve producing again, as he does with all of the Blood Command stuff, it felt the same as other recordings have felt,” Brumen says. “And I think the song also shows growth, with Yngve and with the band, hence the song being quite different.”
Also accompanied by a brand new music video, directed, shot and edited by David Alræk, Blood Command aren’t half-assing their new cowboy era, with Brumen and Andersen wholeheartedly embracing the Western aesthetic while also filming at a location that inadvertently linked to Andersen’s childhood.
It’s very in line with a lot of Blood Command’s themes, which is, you know, the ‘sad boi’ music. I know Yngve really wanted to write a song with this sort of theme and I was incredibly keen as well. So yeah – this is the end result!
[ Nikki Brumen ]
“There is a fun fact in here actually,” Brumen laughs, “First of all, Yngve said to me that we had to wear cowboy stuff with Adidas. So, that’s sort of where that idea stemmed from, because obviously the song is a sad cowboy song. And then when our videographer/director David found the location – it’s actually the island that Yngve grew up on, and David had no idea!”
“It’s pretty cool,” Andersen says, smiling.
“Like – immediately the video was gonna go well!” Brumen says. “I mean, it’s not that far away, it’s only like a 40 minute bus ride out of the city. There was something poetic in that though, something really sentimental about it. And the shoot itself just went so well.”
Coated in hard-hitting themes and acoustic beauty, Losing Faith inevitably tugs at the heartstrings, dealing with notions of the shame and grief that often accompanies unrequited love. Delivered with unmistakable Blood Command might, the stripped-back arrangements allows for a more intimate experience – and this itself was no accident as the band look beyond 2023 and further into their exciting next chapter.
“We want people to be able to put themselves into the lyrics, that’s what we want,” says Andersen. “We’re pretty busy still, but there’s a lot of cool stuff coming, it’s gonna be a really fun year for Blood Command.”
“It’s not the last of it, there will be more to come,” says Brumen. “We have very long sleeves and a lot of things up those sleeves. We can say that people are definitely gonna see even more of us!”
With a touring history that spans sharing bills with Protest The Hero, Gallows, Biffy Clyro and Kvelertak, Blood Command recently were able to perform in Australia late last year, appearing at Good Things Festival alongside Bring Me The Horizon, Deftones and many more.
The recent trip down under allowed Aussie fans to catch the group in dazzling action following the release of their scorching new album Praise Armageddonism, it also offered Brumen a chance to revisit her home soil after moving from Melbourne to Norway to join her bandmates.
“That’s a really good question. I have an answer, but I don’t know if I can say it here!” Brumen pauses. They both crack into laughter. “I’ll choose the one that won’t get censored. For me, it was seeing my twin sister in the crowd in Sydney. She’s from Melbourne, but she also came to Sydney’s Good Things, and I was playing while also seeing her in the crowd crying because she was so proud of us. For me, that was a definite highlight.
“And also the day that Yngve ate ten grams of weed,” Brumen laughs.
“Probably not true…” Andersen says, grinning.
With Brumen joining the Blood Command journey back in 2021, the band have collectively gone on to kick multiple goals together, including the release of the 2022 full length Praise Armageddonism. It heralded a creative rebirth alongside a staunch continuation of the band’s signature style. Plenty has happened for all band members since 2021, an unsurprising fact given the group’s ferocious drive, there’s a shared core memory that both Brumen and Andersen hold dear in their Blood Command storyline so far.
“My standout was the day that Yngve messaged me,” Brumen says.
“I was about to say the same,” Andersen says.
“Getting that message,” Brumen says, “I was sitting in North Fitzroy in Melbourne feeling like the biggest loser because I had no plans. I wanted to do music, but I had nothing lined up. And I got a message from a Norwegian person whose name I couldn’t even pronounce at the time…it happened to be Yngve!”
“That, for me, is a moment I will never ever forget, and it literally changed my entire life. It’s gonna sound cheesy, but I feel like I was always born to do this. That’s what keeps me going. And then to be able to do it with my best friends as well – it’s an added bonus!”
“I second that,” says Andersen. “When I messaged Nikki and she said yes – that was pretty insane. And I just love doing this.”
Losing Faith is out now via Hassle Records and Loyal Blood Records.
