Norway has been in the spotlight recently, following the conclusion of the World Cup less than a month ago. Despite the attention around figures like Erling Haaland and the Viking Row, the country's hardcore scene remains largely overlooked. Hardcore bands from Norway rarely make headlines. Trondheim’s Drop Knee aims to change that. The band released a banger of an album, Life Is Beautiful, this past Friday.
Squeezing nine songs into 19 minutes, the Trondheimians blend influences from across hardcore into a groove-heavy record with touches of NYHC and late-2000s Baltimore hardcore. It feels like a refreshing take on the genre and one that could eventually earn a place alongside Norwegian hardcore standouts like Sportswear and Tiebreak.
To celebrate the album's release, we caught up with Drop Knee to discuss the record, touring with Speedway, the Scandinavian hardcore scene, and, naturally, movie recommendations.
I know you guys were already profiled on No Echo, but tell me a bit about Drop Knee.
Drop Knee is a vegan hardcore band from Trondheim that formed in 2024. We're a five-piece consisting of Miriam and Theodor on vocals, Johnny on drums, Simon on guitar, and our newest member, Sebastian, on bass, who joined in the fall of 2025.
You just released Life Is Beautiful, and one thing I really enjoy is that every song feels distinct yet still sounds unmistakably like Drop Knee. I even heard some Madball-esque breakdowns. What were you listening to while writing and recording?
Madball is definitely an accurate comparison! [Laughs.] Our guitarist Simon was listening to them a lot while we were writing.
We're all heavily influenced by the Baltimore sound, so bands like Trapped Under Ice and End It have been in constant rotation, along with No Warning, Cold World, and Soul Search.
Our vocalist Miriam is also a huge movie fan, so many of the samples and lyrical themes are inspired by films. That ranges from Harmony Korine's Gummo (1997) and Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) to Donnie Darko (2001) and My Bloody Valentine (1981).
What was the recording process like?
We started writing songs for this album as soon as our first EP came out, and we didn't finish the last song, "Abolitionist," until just a couple of weeks before recording, so it ended up being a pretty long process.
Simon and Johnny usually lay the groundwork for the guitar and drum parts, and then we all work on the songs together until we're happy with the arrangements. After that, Sebastian adds his bass parts, while Miriam and Theodor collaborate on the lyrics and vocal flow.
We recorded and mixed the album with Thomas Berdal at his studio in Snillfjord, about an hour outside Trondheim. He's the kind of person who genuinely loves recording all kinds of music, and it's been incredibly rewarding working with someone who's so passionate about what he does.
The album artwork is fantastic. How did it come together?
Thank you! Early in the process, Miriam pitched the idea of a purple cover with a chrome-style logo and found an old illustration by Raffaele Mainella that fit the overall vibe of the album.
Simon then took that concept and brought it to life. We went through quite a few different versions before settling on the final artwork, but the general direction was there from the beginning.
You toured with Speedway a couple of months ago. What was that experience like?
We played a couple of shows with them in Tampere and Jyväskylä, Finland, back in April.
The Speedway guys are always a lot of fun to hang out with, and we had an amazing time. It was everyone's first trip to Finland, so getting to experience the Finnish hardcore scene firsthand was really special. There are so many great people doing cool things over there.
Shoutout to everyone at 931 Hardcore and Circuit Breaker Bookings—you all rule.
Speaking of scenes, what's the current state of Scandinavian hardcore? It feels like both Norway and Sweden are becoming modern hardcore hotbeds.
The Trondheim scene is still pretty small, but everyone is involved in multiple projects. Every member of Drop Knee also plays in other bands, including Gnasher, xStalkerx, Nagirčalmmiid, and Nykter.
We're also involved with booking shows through Trondheim Hardcore (TRDHC), which got started around 2024-2025.
Overall, the Norwegian hardcore scene is still relatively small, so many of us travel to Sweden for festivals and shows. Stockholm, Örebro, Umeå, Gothenburg, Jönköping, Linköping, and Uppsala all have incredible things happening right now.
One of the most inspiring things about Sweden is seeing how many younger kids are getting involved—not just by attending shows, but by organizing them and starting bands themselves.
For someone just getting into modern Scandinavian hardcore, what would your starter pack be?
In Norway, we'd recommend Weight and Modern Love from Oslo, along with Trondheim's emo/post-hardcore legends Lâche.
Sweden has almost too many great bands to mention, but some of our favorites are xSerenityx, who just released an incredible EP and will be playing Trondheim this August, Blood Will Tell (Johnny's EP of the year), Feels Like Heaven (Miriam's album of the year), and Stockholm legends Existence.
And, of course, we have to give a huge shoutout to our vegan brothers in Times of Desperation.
Since you guys are such movie fans, I have to ask: if Life Is Beautiful were a movie, which one would it be?
That's a good question!
The obvious answer would probably be Gummo, since that's where the intro and outro samples come from.
But the album's core themes are really about self-improvement, standing up for your beliefs, treating others with compassion, and channeling a healthy dose of vegan rage. So the real answer is probably somewhere between the warmth of Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) and the anger of a revenge film like The Crow (1994).
What's next for Drop Knee?
Right now, we're focused on playing as many shows as possible now that the new record is out.
As the band mentioned, Drop Knee is deeply invested in helping their local scene grow. They're also behind Against the Grain Festival in Trondheim, so if you find yourself in Scandinavia, it's worth checking out both the festival and the wave of emerging bands coming out of the region.
Keep an eye on Drop Knee. They're part of an exciting new generation of Norwegian hardcore that's only getting started. (Shoutout to Råck&Rålls in Oslo.)
Ut på tur, aldri sur!
***
Life Is Beautiful is available on cassette via Negative Aggression, and the vinyl version is available directly from the band if you contact them through their Instagram page.
Tagged: drop knee
