The Iron Point is an essential lesson in aural brutality, and sometimes it just never fails to amaze me how capable some musicians are of making such uncivilized sounds from minimal equipment. These Norwegians come at the game with only drums, bass, and viola - potentially the perfect ingredients for delicate ambient music. But no, with the bass distorted beyond recognition, the viola manipulated until it sounds alien, and thumping drums with slicing cymbals cutting through the speakers, Noxagt produce what is more akin to endurance music, and when they nail that riff, it doesn�t leave so easily. Sometimes it doesn�t leave at all.

The Iron Point does an admirable job straddling the line between noise rock and conventional songwriting. Even more admirable is that the trio forgoes a guitarist for a violinist. The end result is just as heavy as if there were a Gibson plugged into a Marshall stack. Bassist Kjeitel Brandsdal and drummer Jan Kyvik lay down a solid foundation of odd time signatures, allowing Nils Erga to create a variety of sounds and moods. It�s a stripped down album that can appeal to fans of the Chicago noise-rock scene as well as Keelhaul or Test-Site.

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