Legbiter and Norna are teaming up for a split release in 2026.
United under the Pelagic Records banner, the Swedish quartet, which blends Post-Hardcore, Shoegaze, and Noise Rock, offers us three new tracks, as does the Swedish-Swiss Doom/Sludge trio.
We start with Worms, Legbiter‘s first track, which envelops us in a kind of dark, noisy fog with aggressive patterns, countered by raw but controlled vocals bordering on grunge, creating captivating dissonant parts. However, the track quickly gives way to Speedball, which adopts a similar atmosphere while offering waves of unexpected and jerky violence, placing abrasive harmonics to signal its end. We move on without delay to Major Motion, a track that is both more saturated and softer than the other two, playing on an overwhelming contrast of sounds and intoxicating vocals to put us in a trance before the last wave leads us to Norna‘s part with Lithany, the first composition with an assumed suffocating heaviness and sizzling riffs that leave a little room for screams in the background. The sound overwhelms us, but subsides for a few moments to make way for Eyes of God, which takes over and develops a pachydermic rhythm in which a few bursts of voice barely reach us, reinforcing the mysterious side of this long creation. Some patterns linger, becoming increasingly rooted in noisy and dissonant tones, but the chaotic mix eventually fades away before Serpents of Gold takes over, distilling its piercing harmonics without restraint, forming a natural block of oppression that eventually comes to an abrupt end, marking the end of the EP.
Not knowing Legbiter, I discovered in their part an oppressive and hazy sound, but not in the same way as Norna‘s, although the two are openly complementary. Don’t wait to listen to Legbiter Norna EP.
95/100
A few questions to Rikard Nordström from Legbiter and Tomas Lijedahl from Norna about the release of their Norna / Legbiter split EP.
Hello and first of all, thank you very much for your time on this unusual interview! In the Legbiter camp, how would you describe Norna’s music without using any musical label, such as “Post Metal”, “Sludge”, “Doom Metal” or any kind of subgenre? And the same question for the Norna camp about Legbiter’s music without the labels “Post-Hardcore”, “Shoegaze”, “Noise”…
Rikard Nordström: I would describe Norna‘s music with one word – meditative. Norna are experts at creating a meditative hypnotic slow crush that’s just like a relentless freight train going north. The first song I heard by Norna was The Truther which I think encapsulates this perfectly, with just a few crushing riffs that keep on pounding without anyone wanting the ride to stop.
Tomas Lijedahl: Legbiter is definitely a breath of fresh air in this ocean of ”Post” (I said it) music these days. Their music takes me back to where I come from musically for sure, and it really has a bite to it, so definitely a good choice of a band name! Hard!
Do you remember how you came out with your respective names, Norna and Legbiter, back in time? How do you still link it to the music you play?
Rikard: Sometimes band names just start like a bit of a joke, and this was the case for use, but somehow it stuck. It’s short, fun, stupid and easy to remember. And sometimes that is just enough. The name actually comes from this mythological scandinavian sword, which of course no one can take seriously when playing somewhat heavy music.
Tomas: Our name comes from the Norse mythology, my heritage if you will. The three main Norns were Urd, Verdandi and Skuld residing by the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree weaving the faith of humans. Power mothers!
2026 will mark the Norna & Legbiter split EP, each band having three songs on it. How do you feel about it? Do you already have any feedback?
Rikard: I love split releases and think this will be a really interesting and varied release but also with some interconnecting points. I hope listeners will enjoy both sides of the release and find interesting pieces of music in both camps. Even though we sound very different sonically I think we also have something in common in the dissonant and somewhat harsh parts of our music and probably have a lot of bands we both like and are inspired by. My favorite split and the first one I probably came in contact with regarding alternative music was the Nirvana/Jesus Lizard split Puss/Oh, the Guilt which are bands that still inspire us today and most certainly Legbiter’s music.
Tomas: It feels great! Splits are the perfect way to project different energies coming from the same cosmos, the sonically differences only ads to the force of it. Contrast is everything, there is no light without darkness. Our songs for this split are not yet out in the open so feedback is still to come.
How would each of you sum up the Norna & Legbiter EP’s identity in only three words?
Tomas: Forceful, intense and interesting.
How does the composition process work for each band? Norna reached its 6th birthday and Legbiter the 11th, did you notice some evolution with your early works?
Rikard: Our composition process is very traditional, someone brings something to the rehearsal space and then when it comes out the other end it has been through the Legbiter-process, back and forth, maybe something has been restructured, maybe it sounds just the same as on a demo recording. But it’s a privilege to come to rehearsal with a blank page, create something together and leave with something we made as a collective.
Tomas: Because we live in different parts of the world we don’t get to rehearse often, mainly before tours and shows. So the writing process is usually done in solitude and then using the cloud to present it amongst each other. The recording process is where we need to be in the same room connecting to each other, always tracking live as much as possible. This has also become a thing live, we tend to set up on stage so we can have a perfect connection with each other rather than spreading out and face the audience. In the end this powerful connecting force will hit the listener even harder.
For the Legbiter camp, what is your favorite song of yours on this EP, and which is Norna‘s favorite? Same question for the Norna camp, what’s your own favorite on this EP, as well as your Legbiter favorite?
Rikard: I have not heard Norna’s new songs yet but I’m 100% sure I will love them. My own favorite is the title track Worms which I think encapsulates Legbiters vibe pretty good by being both heavy and melodic at the same time.
Tomas: Same here, we haven’t heard all of the Legbiter songs but Worms is definitely a banger, hard, noisy and melodic at the same time, love the intensity. Regarding our song(s) it’s actually just one massive wall of moving air and energies. We see the 3 tracks as one and we are happy with the outcome, trying to keep it simple and let the sonic emotions lead the way.
What would you quote as your main influences for this new EP? Are they different from your previous releases?
Rikard: With Legbiter the basic influences stay pretty much the same tbh, we all love the 90’s Noisy Rock we grew up with like Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Unsane, Barkmarket, Swervedriver, Helmet and of course the swedish bands such as Fireside, Breach and Refused and so on but of course we also want to evolve and mix that up with other influences and naturally also contemporary music, we do not want to only look back but also ahead.
Tomas: We usually get influenced by stuff outside of the music realm. Images and words, energies and meetings become the creation.
Do you think you improved yourself as a musician and with this new record?
Rikard: I think so, I believe this newer material is more balanced, more nuanced and more varied than our earlier stuff which was more onesided, not that there is anything wrong with that. But I think we all enjoy exploring more melodic parts and vocals and mixing that up with the heavy and dissonant parts.
Tomas: We always try to improve, especially the focus on what it really is about. The music! Also trying every day to connect with each other and vibrate on the same level.
The Norna & Legbiter EP comes out on Pelagic Records, how is the collaboration going with them? How did they welcome the idea of a split between you two?
Rikard: The collaboration is going great, we’re very happy with Pelagic wanting to pick us up. Tbh it was not in our minds at all to even send our stuff out to any record companies. We were planning to just release the EP ourselves/DIY on streaming, but then our former drummer Markku Hildén (now in the incredible Barrens band) sent the new songs to Robin at Pelagic who immediately got in touch with us and wanted to do something together. We talked back and forth and Robin came up with the idea to do a split with Norna as a first release for us which sounded great to us and like a fun release for the audience.
Tomas: We had a weird last year and it felt like our first album on Pelagic kind of disappeared into the void for various reasons, changing booking agencies, started working with new people etc so we felt like we wanted to do something to float up to the surface again and get back to what we love which is to play live music. We reached out to Robin and he suggested this split and it felt like a great idea.
I unfortunately never had the opportunity to see Norna or Legbiter on stage yet. How do you live a live show from your point of view? Maybe you have some preshow or post show habit, or some kind of warmup?
Rikard: I really should do a vocal warm-out of sorts but it’s mostly just a beer, tuning my guitar again and praying everything will work on stage and that no amps or pedals will break down!
Tomas: I always do my vocal warm ups, never miss it. Me and Marc also do breathing exercises just before the show to get into our calm focus. Chris is the tech/gear guy so he usually makes sure everything from in ears to samples is actually gonna work 🙂
What will come next for both bands? About music, live, maybe other projects on the way?
Rikard: We’re looking to play live much more when we now have the new release on the way. And we’re also demoing and writing material for a full length album on Pelagic.
Tomas: To play live as much as we possibly can, that is where the expression is.
Have you ever heard of the French Metal scene? Are there any bands you know and like?
Rikard: I only know the most famous metal acts such as Gojira and Alcest I’m afraid. My French favorites are rather different from that: Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, M83, Phoenix, Daft Punk, Air, Justice – so much incredible French music.
Tomas: I myself is poorly guided through the French metal scene, I bet Chris and Marc now their way around in it better then me.
Are there any bands you would love to play with? I let you create your dream poster with Norna and Legbiter coheadlining for the EP release, and three other bands. Even unrealistic answers are accepted.
Rikard: Deftones, Helmet w/ John Stanier + Henry Bogdan, Quicksand, Norna, Legbiter.
Tomas: OM, Yob, Lord Mantis, Legbiter and Norna.
That was the last question for me, so thank you very much for your time and your music, last words are yours!
Rikard: Thank you for having us on and thank you for supporting alternative human-made music 🙂
Tomas: Thank you! Music is the universal language of pure love, feel it!