Sahg

by Eduardo Rivadavia
Norwegian heavy metal supergroup Sahg were first convened in 2004, in the city of Bergen, by a trio of extremely hard-working local musicians: vocalist/guitarist Olav Iversen (also a member of Manngard), guitarist Thomas Tofthagen (Audrey Horne), and bassist Tom Cato Visnes (aka King ov Hell, of Gorgoroth, Audrey Horne, and I). Somehow finding time to jam out even more music beyond their regular bands, and aided by drummer Einar Selvik (aka Kvitrafn, of Dead to this World, Gorgoroth, and Jotunspor), the newly baptized Sahg recorded their first album, entitled simply Sahg I, for release in early 2006, then welcomed new drummer Tor Bjarne Bjelland before touring the U.S. with Celtic Frost and performing at the 2007 Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. Meanwhile, the band's debut had entered the Norwegian charts at number 31 and garnered some rave reviews across Europe thanks to its modern spin on the classic heavy metal blueprint first imparted by Black Sabbath (now largely qualified as "doom" because of its inherent sloth), so Sahg inevitably decided to reconvene in 2008 to work on a follow-up. Now backed by session drummer Brynjulv Guddal , the original trio collaborated on yet another strong set of doom-laden metal tunes for the aptly named Sahg II. And even though they would be crazy to give up their better established "day jobs," it now seems relatively certain that the band will remain among its musicians' many plans moving forward.