She can be a lover full of appetite with a touch of an angel; however, she can also be the wicked, devilish witch from the north. So who really is Agnete Kjolsrud? After I heard her scream and sing, I think she is both. Last time I heard her sing was on the last release of DIMMU BORGIR and she was excellent.

Never did I know that she was on the verge of releasing her debut album with her own material. When I found out about it, I had to check it out and there it is. Under the name of DJERV, and via her local label Indie Recordings, Kjolsrud unleashed her cruel and cold version of Rock meets Goth meets Metal music.

Kjolsrud's musical approach is practically basic. It seems that the aim was to be as catchy and as flowing as possible while shaping dark figures around the music. What the lady made here was rather interesting. I see her music as the dark side of GARBAGE and NO DOUBT but still slightly heavier and attacking. More like DIMMU BORGIR cutting the flesh of Gwen Stefani and Shirley Manson.

Furthermore, on several of the songs, especially on "Abmuse", there is that halo of Dark Metal. To be more accurate, you can easily sense that you are listening to a kind of Norwegian Extreme Metal release, even though this one was far from it. There was something about the coldness of production that might have lowered the heat yet elevated a sort of mystery that was pleasurable.

The "Djerv" album had some very nice songs that can be described as easy Dark Hard Rock / Alternative Metal songs. Don't expect something heavy; however, the darkness will fill you up pretty good with its depraved atmosphere. I would suggest on taking close attention to "Headstone", which was also on the band's earlier EP in the same name, "Abmuse", the closest thing that this release has to DIMMU BORGIR and also there is the sexy flavor of "Gruesome Twosome". Nevertheless, I think that "Immortal" topped them all. It has almost everything made of true Dark Rock. Although I missed the solos on the entire release, this one has the best chorus, vocal rhythm and catchy riffages.

In overall, "Djerv", as almost every debut, is something nice to follow in the future. Nonetheless, I don't think that someone over here went out of its way to make this album sound special because as I see it, this album wasn't after all. Both Rockers & Metalheads would probably dig this one, yet, I think that Kjolsrud and friends would strike gold if the material of DJERV wouldn't be that obvious and repetitive.