AVKRVST – Waving At The Sky (Album Review)

With 2023’s conceptual The Approbation, Avkrvst instantly revealed themselves as one of today’s most promising new Norwegian prog rock bands. In fact, we championed it as a “must-hear collection” that balanced originality with clear allusions to influences such as “King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, Anekdoten, and Opeth.” Clearly, expectations were high for its follow-up, and thankfully, all of them have been met or surpassed with Waving at the Sky. Occasionally fiercer and more adventurous than its predecessor, Avkrvst’s second sequence is a lovingly sophisticated, diverse, and melodic journey that demands your attention.

As vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Simon Bergseth explains, the album sees the quintet pushing themselves “in a bit more original direction, and maybe a tiny bit more mature?”

He adds: “It sounds like us, but I think this album sounds even more like us than The Approbation. And that was kinda what we hoped and aimed for as well, to dig a bit deeper into our musical selves, try a bit more stuff than last time, but without losing ourselves in it. I think we’ve achieved exactly that.”

Narratively, Waving at the Sky takes place before The Approbation and is similarly inspired by true events. “The lonely man in the cabin, who was going insane on The Approbation, is one of the characters [here], referred to as ‘the stepdad,’” Bergseth clarifies in the official press release.

He continues: “The story is about two families that are neighbours, who both abuse their children, and then they start doing it with each other’s children too. It was a big thing on the news in Norway. The spoken words in the intro and in the last song are things taken from the eventual trial. It’s basically as dark as you can get. Martin [Utby, drums and synths] and I were a lot younger, so we didn’t comprehend or grasp the depths of it at the time. Now, over a decade later, each with our own daughters and family, the case suddenly had an extreme impact when it came to mind on one of the first trips to the cabin.”

From the moment instrumental opener “Preceding” begins, it’s clear that Avkrvst are deadest on capturing evocative moods and cinematic scopes. After all, it conveys the mystery and emotion you’d expect from the prelude to a dramatic – and even disturbing – story, with crunchy guitar riffs and agitated rhythms ebbing and flowing around beautifully pastoral timbres (silky strings, acoustic guitar arpeggios, etc.) to yield a musical world both rustic and rebellious. Expectedly, and as with the rest of the LP, the group juxtaposes these hellish and heavenly moments brilliantly to simultaneously foreshadow the varied temperaments to come and highlight their enhanced aptitudes and ambitions.

On that note, the remaining six tracks are equally spellbinding in their own ways. For instance, there’s the piercing chaos and harrowing sentiments of “The Trauma” (during which Bergseth sings, “God, please let me / Out of this loathsome life / Godforsaken times / Oh, please let me die”); the death metal growls and ominous yet soothing catharsis of “Families are Forever”; and the symphonic hyperactivity at the heart of “Ghosts of Yesteryear.”  

That said, arguably the record’s greatest passages lie elsewhere, with “Conflating Memories” incorporating a subtly gorgeous and arresting motif halfway in (you’ll know it when you hear it) and the title track serving as an epic finale bursting with perhaps the most excitingly intricate and adventurous instrumentation the fivesome have composed thus far. Sure, it’s inherently reminiscent of other established acts (including Haken, whose frontman, Ross Jennings, does a superb job guesting on “The Malevolent”), but it’s nonetheless a jaw-dropping example of Avkrvst enriching their characteristic artistry.

Whether you’ll like Waving at the Sky more than The Approbation largely depends on who you are. If you enjoyed the lighter, dark folk elements of their debut, you’ll probably still prefer it, whereas those who favor savagery and complexity will probably enjoy this newer offering more. Regardless, Avkrvst have now crafted two of the best progressive rock/metal albums of the 2020s, with Waving at the Sky maintaining everything that was essential to its predecessor’s success while also pushing themselves into fresher and more ferocious places. It’s a total triumph that genre fans should study and celebrate as often as possible.

Release Date: June 13th, 2025
Record Label: InsideOut Music
Genre: Progressive Rock / Metal

Musicians:

• Auver Gaaren / Keys
• Simon Bergseth / Vocals, guitars, bass
• Martin Utby / Drums, synths
• Øystein Aadland / Bass, keys
• Edvard Seim / Guitars

Waiving at the Sky Track-list:

1. Preceding
2. The Trauma
3. Families are Forever
4. Conflating Memories
5. The Malevolent (feat. Ross Jennings)
6. Ghosts of Yesteryear
7. Waving at the Sky

Order Waving at the Sky here