Relentless Aggression have history behind the name. The project started in Bergen in 1985/86 as Hell Awaits, later ran as From Beyond, and then went quiet in 1990. Guitarist and bassist Finn Solemdal spent years playing other styles, but the pull of thrash never left. In 2017, he and vocalist Yngve Eide went back to the old material with a simple idea: give those songs a proper studio recording, without sanding everything down until it sounded “modern”.
That restart grew into A Shadow Of All Things Broken in 2021, and it’s now feeding into album two. The band’s latest checkpoint is “Mindbolted”, a digital single released on 14 November 2025. It features guest vocals from Invisus and was recorded at Solslottet Studio in Bergen, with Iver Sandøy (Enslaved) on drums.
Solemdal still describes the band in blunt terms. In his own “tabloid” phrasing, Relentless Aggression are “a Norwegian monster fuelled by belligerent energy”, built on old-school thrash with a punk edge. The way he talks about “Mindbolted” backs that up: get in fast, stay there, and keep the song moving.
“Music is the spice of life, and it’s something that connects people in a world that feels pretty messed up these days.”
“Mindbolted” is out now. What kicked that song into motion, and what did you want it to do in the first minute?
Finn Solemdal: I wanted it to catch the listeners’ attention from the first second, and keep it there for the rest of the song.
“Invisus came to the studio with a six-pack of beer, but he was so quick with the vocals that he only managed to drink one before they were done.”
The track has a guest feature from Invisus. How did that connection happen, and what did the feature add to the song?
I’ve known Invisus for quite a few years now, and I always liked his band Blodhemn and the way he does vocals there. I thought, why not ask him if he wants to do vocals on one of the songs, and he said yes very quickly.
I gave him two songs to listen to, and he said he wanted to do vocals on the fastest one. [He laughs.] He came to the studio with a six-pack of beer, but he was so quick with the vocals that he only managed to drink one before they were done. I was very impressed by how professional he was, and he’s also a very nice guy. I think his voice brings a darker feeling to the song, and the combination of him and Yngve is great!
When a new song starts for you, what usually shows up first, and where does it come from?
It’s always the music first. I usually just sit and watch TV and play random things on the guitar. When I think something sounds good, I record it on my mobile phone. When I have enough good riffs, I try to put them together in the right order.
When I have a whole song ready, I book time in the studio and record the rhythm guitar. Then Iver does the drums, and I do bass guitar after that. The song is then sent to vocalist Yngve, and he works on the lyrics and vocal lines. When he’s done with that, it’s back to the studio to record the vocals. We then check if the song needs more guitars or other things, and then the song is good to go.
There’s a lot of control in the playing, even when it’s fast. How do you build that without sanding off the danger?
I don’t really know how to answer that. We just do our thing, the only way we know how to. The important thing for us is to put enough energy and aggression into the music, but without every song sounding the same.
Lyrically, where were your heads at on “Mindbolted”? What were you trying to say, and what were you trying to avoid saying?
Yngve and Invisus wrote the lyrics together. I guess it’s about how bad things are in the world at the moment.
Relentless Aggression goes back decades, with a long gap in the middle. What stayed consistent in your taste and instincts across all that time?
“We originally started the band from scratch in 85/86 as Hell Awaits. We only had very bad demo recordings, and the songs deserved better than that.”
We originally started the band from scratch in 85/86 as Hell Awaits, and ended as From Beyond in 1990. From 1990 until we started the band again in 2017, I played in a lot of different bands, usually alternative rock bands. I have always loved thrash metal, and I knew that some of the old Hell Awaits songs were too good to be completely forgotten. So in 2017 I talked to Yngve about recording some of the old songs in a real studio. We only had very bad demo recordings, and the songs deserved better than that.
What changed when you restarted the band that you didn’t expect to change?
The original plan was to record two of the old songs and release it as a vinyl single. We did that in 2018, but the process was so fun that I wanted to see if I still could make thrash metal songs.
I was very happy with my first try, “Epitome of Resentment”, so we decided to go for a whole album. It took some time, but we managed to release the A Shadow Of All Things Broken album in 2021.
Bergen has its own weight as a metal city. What does the local scene give you, and what does it take from you?
There’s a lot of black metal history in this city. Our original drummer, Erik “Grim” Brødreskift, started to play in legendary black metal bands after Hell Awaits broke up in 1988. There are a lot of good bands here, but I have always been an outsider to the “scene”.
Early on, Erik ‘Grim’ Brødreskift, who played drums for Immortal, Borknagar, and Gorgoroth, was part of the story. What do you remember about those days that still shows up in the band now?
When he joined the band, he didn’t know how to play drums. I had been playing drums for some years, so I had a drum kit and could teach some basic rhythms, and then it was just a matter of practising as much as we could.
Erik and I hung out a lot together at the time, drinking and listening to music. It all ended when I had to join the army. I never saw him much after that. We never had good recordings of the old songs, and we didn’t play very well. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to pay tribute to the songs by recording them properly, while not sounding too “modern”.
How did you record “Mindbolted”? Any choices you made on purpose to keep it raw, ugly, sharp… whatever word fits for you?
We record at Solslottet Studio, run by Iver Sandøy (Enslaved). He’s also co-producing the songs and handling the session drums. He used to play in a thrash band when he was younger, so he knows how it should sound. It has to be tight, but not too ‘perfect’ or too modern-sounding. He really knows how to get that balance right.
As he’s also playing the drums in the studio, he is very involved with the music and comes up with ideas that improve the music.
When you listen back to the new single, what part are you proud of as writers (not as players)?
I’m very happy that it sounds aggressive, but still has some catchiness in it. I also try to vary tempos and rhythm patterns without losing the flow of the song, and that worked well on “Mindbolted”. It’s also super cool to have two vocalists on the song. They have very different voices, but they match very well together.
If someone finds you through this single, what should they listen to next to understand the band properly?
Start with the first song on the A Shadow Of All Things Broken album. And of course “Time to Die”. That’s one of the old songs that most people like.
What contact have you had with African bands, fans, or scenes so far, and what kind of connection would you actually like to build?
I like to find new bands, but I admit that I have very little knowledge of bands from Africa. Maybe you can recommend some for me? When I first got your email about this project you’re doing, I just knew I had to get back to you. Music is the spice of life, and it’s something that connects people in a world that feels pretty messed up these days.
What are you working towards after “Mindbolted”? What can people realistically expect next, and what’s still up in the air?
We are getting close to getting our second album done. All the songs are there, but we lack vocals on two songs, and a bit of guitar here and there. Hopefully it will be received as well as our first one.
Go to Relentless Aggression’s Bandcamp page and grab their releases: https://relentlessaggression.bandcamp.com/
