A-ha, the Norwegian rock band from the 1980s that makes regular comebacks, was getting mixed reviews for its new single that’s just been released. One Oslo-based reviewer claimed the band “wasn’t dead, just a bit sluggish.”
Band members had claimed they still “had some killer songs” to share with their fans. “But ‘Under the Makeup’ is simply no killer song,” wrote Espen Rusdal in newspaper Dagsavisen. He questioned whether it even would have been included on any of the band’s early albums, calling it “kind of like a 1970’s ballad out of Las Vegas.”
Norwegian reviewers have generally ranked the song as “3” or “4” on a scale of 6. “If you’re first going to make a comeback, the single should have signaled that something big is going on,” Rusdal wrote. “We’re still allowed to hope.” The band, which staged a huge retirement tour with concerts all over the world in 2010 only to get together again over the past few years, will release its new album “Cast in Steel” later this year.
newsinenglish.no staff
