BEES IN THE BONNET

There is a new album by the Hedvig Mollestad Trio, and it is absolutely sick and bombastic as the Norwegian guitar maestro takes us on an old-school heavy rock trip that goes through some of the group's most enticing and memorable compositions. Now, the music of Hedvig Mollestad is often instrumental rock with heavy, angular guitars and a solid rhythm section with a thick and urgent bass tone, and this foundation has allowed the female rockstar to experiment with a variety of genres like fusion, hard rock, and progressive metal. 'Bees in the Bonnet' from 2025 is comprised of six tracks that explore the full palette of styles one might associate with this musical project (the Trio), as it offers a great range and a punchy sound that renders this album one of the heaviest in her back catalogue. Mollestad is joined by Ivar Loe Bjørnstad on drums and Ellen Brekken on bass.

First track on the album is 'See See Bop', a piece that has a groovy, solid old-school rock vibe (think of Motorhead, ZZ Top, or Thin Lizzy), and it is relatively straightforward but madly excellent. 'Golden Griffin' is a more adventurous number with a lot of acrobatic riffs and a variety of cool guitar effects, definitely playing with a more progressive aesthetic. Not necessarily prog metal, but lying somewhere within this pool of heavy, complex music that a lot of unpredictable bands strive for nowadays. Third track 'Itta' is kind of doomy and tribal, using a lot of distortion and a relentless rhythm section. So far 'Bees in the Bonnet' is menacing, driven and inspiring, and this is also taken up by the next track, 'Bob's Your Giddy Aunt', the first really experimental entry on here - quirky and metallic, it is a tension-building piece of music that sits really well among the rest of the tracks. Soon enough it becomes hefty and angular. 'Lamament' presents some of the fusion-prone tendencies within Mollestad's work, while the intense and cathartic feel of the last album track 'Apocalypse Slow' brings the all-in-all excellent album to its grand, loud finale. An eclectic, accessible and monolithic album that explores a variety of genres and affirms Hedvig Mollestad's position as one of the most inventive composers of heavy progressive music today.

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