Volbeat feat. Johan Olsen – For Evigt

“This song just confuses me no end.”

Tim: Unusual for a number of reasons, this, not least that it’s metal and we’re normally some form of pop, but then what’s life without a bit of variety every now and again?

Adam: Oh how exciting!

Tim: Volbeat are Danish, been going about 15 years, while Johan is the lead singer of another Danish metal band, Magtens Korridorer (or, in English, The Corridors of Power). So with the intros done, here’s the song, and please don’t read ahead until it’s all played out – you’ll see why.

Tim: Two languages in a track – different, but no biggie. A weird “pre-chorus/wait this instrumental sounds like a post-chorus was that the chorus?/oh no wait this Danish bit is the chorus” structure format – a bit more unusual and a tad unsettling, but we’ve heard stranger.

Adam: Now that description would really pique my interest but having heard the track I’m afraid heavy metal and rockabilly fused together isn’t really doing it for me.

Tim: No. A banjo in a hefty rock song? That just doesn’t sit right with me at all, particularly because yet again we’re losing half the beats.

Adam: I actually quite like the banjo breakdown. I think this is another example of two ideas being squashed together needlessly. I think a shorter but full on heavy song would’ve worked better or have the whole track stripped back like in the breakdown.

Tim: Then the song drops dead and fades back in, the banjo’s nowhere to be seen and we’re back in full on thrashing around mode.

Adam: Yeah the whole track does feel to me like it’s stopping and starting throughout. There were certainly some strange choices made in the writing process.

Tim: In essence, this song just confuses me no end, it really does.

Adam: I feel a bit let down. Although it may proclaim to be another genre, I would still call this pop at the end of the day.

Tim: Oh, mate, just no.