My buddy Grizzly Jimmy turned me on to Thorr’s Hammer. Jimmy was a solid dude. Haven’t seen him in ages. I met him when he used to play in a band called the Dying Game Theory. Later on I played in a band with Grizzly J. for a bit. In fact, I “moved” to Upstate New York in the winter of 2001 to play in said band. Unfortunately, we never recorded or even played a show. We DID have a good time, however. As you can imagine, winter in small-town-upstate-NY is brutally dismal and blisteringly cold. Enter the almighty Thorr’s Hammer(and Southern Lord Records in general). What a fitting soundtrack to such a miserable habitat.

Thorr’s Hammer are often written off as a gimmick band due to the fact that their singer, Runhild Gammelsæte was a teenage Norwegian girl. Kill that noise. “Dommedagsnatt” is a classic record and a milestone in terms of contemporary doom metal. The fluctuation between death metal-style guttural growling and pretty Middle Earth-style singing offers an interesting contrast that is usually not executed well. As legend has it, the band only lasted a couple months. Thank Zod they recorded.

SIDE NOTE: Members from Thorr’s Hammer went on to form Burning Witch.

Released(cassette) 1996 via Moribund Records.
Re-Released(CD) 1998 via Southern Lord Records.

Grizzly Jimmy rockin’ the skins:

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