[Cover Artwork by Julia Proszowska]
Something about the internet that only occurred to me recently is that it’s changed the way we think about death. Like just about everything else, the very notion of death has lost so much of its affective power as it has become another thing crowding the headlines bobbing in a clickbait sea. All day every day, notifications of the passing of beloved celebrities and folk heroes next to real stories about real people losing their real lives in heartbreaking ways. We click, share, lament, x out, and click something else. Consider how we process the deluge of news alerts pertaining to natural disaster, war and genocide, school shootings for fuck’s sake. Ubiquity inures.
I think that’s why I appreciate so very much how Norway’s Arabs In Aspic chose to handle the sad and unexpected passing in 2025 of their good friend Stig Arve Kvam-Jørgensen, whom the band called their “fantastic wizard of keys, vocals, composition, inspiration, improvisation and good vibes.” Aside from a brief announcement expressing shock and grief, there’s been virtually nothing from the band about it. Just some sadness and quiet respect for family. And then their 9th album (allowing for the debut EP and rerecording of Syndenes Magi), scheduled to release on what would have been Stig’s 50th birthday.
Sorgens Kapittel is a tribute to Stig, for sure, and feels like it must be a part of the grieving, as well. For one, he was active in the creation of the album just before his death, so this music is of him as much as it is for him. The cover art, by longtime collaborator Julia Proszowska, is dark and foreboding and depicts Stig(?) being tormented by demons in the hallowed halls of Fru Lundgreen, a rock and roll club in Trondheim where Arabs In Aspic played many shows over the years. There’s a lot happening in the art, including 
little Easter eggs that surely suggest some inside scoop on the lives of Stig and his pals in the band. The album title translates to “The Chapter Of Grief,” and the song titles suggest stories and characters and observations that must reflect intimate knowledge of Stig and his relationships. Sorgens Kapittel is the band’s farewell to their friend and celebration of his life.
At first blush, it’s tempting to call Sorgens Kapittel a return to roots for Arabs In Aspic, both because of its role as a memorial and because it’s very dark and heavy. Arabs began as a Sabbath tribute band so of course their earliest albums were heavy and loaded with stonerisms, but they also showed just that little bit of weirdness and restlessness that opens the door to prog and, sure enough, they’ve folded more and more progressive rock into their sound with each release. It’s remarkable, then, that Sorgens Kapittel is the heaviest thing they’ve done since the 2003 debut EP, Progeria.
And yet, this is not a mere return to roots, because these songs are absolutely progressive, reflecting all that growth as brightly as they rumble with that early inspiration. Like all great bands, there’s an undeniable celebration of the greats of the subgenre, especially those that thrived in the intersection of Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock before those terms were being capitalized. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Frank Zappa, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant. Arabs In Aspic first and foremost, loudest and proudest, because they’ve never forgotten who they are. This is probably more important to them than ever on the album remembering their good friend.
Knowing this, Stig’s contributions take on deeper meaning, but so too do several recording and production decisions that might not make much sense otherwise. The lone single, for example, titled, “Siste Dans” (“The Last Dance”) is warm and nostalgic, clearly a fond remembrance and farewell.
But the full version of “Siste Dans” included on the album is over four minutes longer than the single cut shared above. The extra time is rehearsal sounds capturing the essence of Arabs In Aspic, the band, with Stig’s place among them preserved forever.
What a wonderful way to share their love and grief with fans of the band and the man, and a perfect encapsulation of the energy coursing through this record.
So fittingly, the album begins with Stig breaking the silence, burly Hammond tones shaking the air. “Avgrunnen Kaller” (“The Abyss Calls”) opens with darkness and anger but courses through an emotional maelstrom, so there’s joy and sadness and some ambiguity, too. This is a story about remembering their friend, who features prominently and makes his presence felt throughout the Sorgens Kapittel. The opening track runs a full range of sounds from heavy metal to lively Scandinavian prog across its nine-and-a-half minutes. Both the contrast and smoothness of transitions between those vibes is facilitated so nicely by the presence of both a standard rock and roll drummer and more broadly defined percussionist, the presence of which are felt consistently, contributing without dominating.
The songs following are similar in their structure except that they are presented as briefer components rather than an assembled whole, even as they play that way, smooth and integrated. Tracks two through five, for example, essentially function as a song with all the eclectic energy and fun of the opener running across tracks rather than within one: wistful melody and mariachi in “Local Legends and Mutiny,” sludgy doom in “The Satanist,” FM radio rock smiles on “The Buddy,” and certified zaniness à la Zappa on “The Nudist,” because of course. It’s a strange way to go about it, generally speaking, but consistent with this band’s proclivity for just being a little bit (or a lot) weird about things.
To the point: it works. One of prog rock’s more persistent foibles is its tendency to include everything at the expense of cohesive songwriting. Sorgens Kapittel excels in this regard as it flows smoothly in and out of countless twists and turns through time and tempo changes, shuttling between styles, moods, and intensities, and holding true to its thematic core as songs recall various motifs through assorted morphs and modulations. Even if there’s no mention of a concept per se, it is surely safe to say that this story is so convincingly told because the unifying theme is the band’s love for Stig.
Faced with the loss of their friend and musical companion, the human beings in Arabs In Aspic focused inward, channeling grief and all its intersecting emotions through their creative energies, much the same way they would have channeled life’s more mundane energies if he were still in the room. In the process, they made a wonderful dark and heavy progressive rock album that remembers the band as it was with him in it and turned out as great on its own as it is special in its memorial love. There may not be a better way to honor the life of a loved one lost.
