Roadrunner Records has signed Kvelertak.

On the one hand, this isn’t surprising; there have been rumors that the label was courting the band for some time, and my sources tell me they threw a metric fuckton of money at the band to make it happen. And if RR is looking to maintain some street cred in light of last year’s gutting, well, Kvelertak certainly have street cred. On the other hand, this is really surprising, because a clean-vocals-free Norwegian band whose lyrics aren’t in English and are produced by Kurt frickin’ Ballou are now on Roadrunner.

But, really, whatever: very few people will give a shit what label the band is on so long as their new album, Meir, is good… and early evidence suggests that it will be.

In any case, Meir now has a U.S. release date: March 26. So close, and yet so far away!