Djerv: Headstone – new video

 

 

Norway's DJERV have obviously discovered their lighter side, even brought the element of humor to the surface; their new video, ‘Headstone’, is partly animated and partly green-screen production done by the band's long time collaborator Jørn Veberg, and co-director Colin McMahon. It reportedly “boasts of references and nods to both pop and rock legends, horror-movie poster-esthetics and old zombie movies”. The tune itself comes off DJERV's self-titled debut album, released in Europe in June 2011 and in February 2012 in North America through Indie Recordings, which entered Norwegian Albums sales charts at impressive number 8 after only two days of sales. Produced by the band, the album was engineered by Daniel Bergstrand in Oslo, mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Matt Hyde in Los Angeles and mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering. Download yourselves DJERV's single ‘Madman’ free of charge here (Facebook) - by sacrificing your email address first - and watch the video made for the tune by Jørn Veberg and Johan Sæther below. And then buy DJERV's stuff here (DJERV shop).

“[Explained drummer Erlend Gjerde:] We tried to explore the borderlines between rock, metal and on some tracks there are more or less obvious black metal references. The overall sound is quite stripped down, groove-oriented and melodic, yet it has those cold black metal-influenced riffs accompanying the dark moods of the music . We are very happy with the way it turned out, now it’s just the painful wait of hearing what everybody else thinks. Fingers crossed it go down well.”

“[Discovered Natalie Zed, for About.com:] DJERV have produced an album of easily accessibly music that is exceptionally well-produced and packages. It’s not challenging, but neither is it fluff. The record is worth listening to if only to add some freshness to any metal rotation, like a vodka and soda with lime can reinvigorate the palate after drinking pints and pints of beer,” [more here]

DJERV formed in early 2010, working with the idea of playing some “aggressive and dangerously catchy rock that borderlines on metal”. On the strength of a single demo released, DJERV, made up of three core members, singer Agnete Kjølsrud, guitarist Stian Kårstad and drummer Erlend Gjerde  (joined by guitarist Stamos Koliousis (MENCEA) and bassist Victor Brandt (ENTOMBED) for their live performances), invited to appear at major music festivals in their home-country during the months that followed the group's formation. In August 2010, DJERV released an EP entitled ‘Headstone’ (click) and with it quickly won over those few, truly appreciated though, readers of this blog.

DJERV features: Agnete Kjølsrud – vocals, Stian Kårstad – guitar, Erlend Gjerde – drums and Jan Ole Kristensen – guitar