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Gjenferd — Black Smoke Rising
(Apollon Records AP, 2026, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-07-21

Black Smoke Rising Cover art

As a budding keyboard player in the 70s, I really loved the sound of an overdriven Hammond organ I heard in bands like Deep Purple and Uriah Heep, and it’s obvious that a lot of other people did too — and still do. Gjenferd is a band from Bergen that’s a shining example of a modern band with that classic sound as their primary influence. Up front you’ve got Jakob Særvoll’s organ and Vegard Bachmann Strand’s guitar, and in the back there’s Samuel Robson Gardner on bass and Sivert Kleiven Larsen on drums. This lineup remains intact from their self-titled debut album of 2024, with Særvoll, Larsen, and Strand all contributing vocals. I recently reviewed the latest from Australia’s Datura4, which features some of the same elements, and in comparison, Gjenferd has a lot less of a boogie blues in their sound, so even when they use a shuffle beat, they don’t remind me of ZZ Top. One aspect of Gjenferd’s sound I really appreciate is the absence of any metal inflections in Strand’s guitar — no chugging or shreddy solos, just solid heavy guitar. Særvoll does make use of other keyboards beside the organ, most notably Mellotron and electric piano, for the occasional change of color. The ten songs are all well written, with catchy riffs and a variety of different feels, so it’s never too much of the same thing. The vocals, both lead and backing, are strong. In short, when it comes to current bands rocking a Hammond organ, it doesn’t get much better than Black Smoke Rising.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Gjenferd

More info
http://gjenferdbergen.bandcamp.com/album/black-smoke-rising

 

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