Doing it again, and doing it loudly.
After more than two decades away from the studio, Norwegian rockers Gluecifier return with the Same Drug New High, an album that continues a legacy long overdue. Their first full-length since 2004, it picks up right where they left off, uninterested in reinvention or correction. From the opening rush of adrenaline, Gluecifier makes a simple case: sometimes it’s not about changing the sound, just trusting the one that carried you this far and turning the amp up enough to feel it again.
The record opens with “The Idiot,” a burst of energy that immediately sets the album’s tone. From there, Gluecifier settles into a steady blend of snarling riffs, gritty growls, and deadpan humor, moving with the confidence of a band that knows exactly what lane it’s in. The title track, “Same Drug New High,” leans hard into repetition, holding its refrain like a mantra. It reads less as a claim of novelty than a knowing nod to endurance. “Armadas” follows with the force of a barroom crawl, all head-bopping momentum and blunt drive, while tracks like “I’m Ready” lean into more structured hard-rock hooks without sanding down the band’s roll.
The back half of the album settles into a steadier rhythm, less explosive but no less assured. Here, the urgency doesn’t disappear; it just becomes lived-in. Songs are allowed to stretch out and breathe, trading immediacy for atmosphere. Tracks like “1996” and “Made in the Morning” carry a sense of memory without tipping into sentimentality, grounded in riffs that feel familiar but not stale. “Mind Control” sharpens the album’s edge again, darker in tone but still self-aware.
Then “Another Night, Another City” arrives like a late-hour loop you can’t break — the same streets, the same heat, the same habits —an homage to the band’s underlying homage of endurance. As the closer, “On the Wire” doesn’t aim for grandiosity; it simply holds its posture. It feels like a final exhale outside the venue — ears still ringing, the night grinding at your teeth — leaving the listener suspended in Gluecifier’s preferred state.
Same Drug New High isn’t interested in proving anything new. It doesn’t chase relevance or rewrite history. Instead, it stays upright inside what already works.
Leave a Comment