Stabber wrapped recording on “EP II” right before Endless Tinnitus moved out of its old room at the end of last year. Their drummer Johannes had been in the band for a few weeks. They could have asked Tibor, their previous drummer who already knew the songs, to come in and close out the recording. They went with Johannes instead. New start, second EP, the room about to disappear.
Stabber are: Mathias on vocals, Kenneth on guitar, Toshi on bass, Johannes on drums. Out of Oslo. Hardcore punk in the strictest reading of that phrase.
“EP II” came out March 27, 2026 on Kick Rock Records out of France and the band’s own STAB! Records. Kenneth recorded the four songs himself. He has been running Endless Tinnitus for years. Four tracks, six minutes.
“I personally prefer 7inches,” Toshi says. “I liked a lot the time of 90s garage punk bands releasing 7 inches from all over the world like Teengenerate, or 00’–10′ hardcore punk bands, still releasing tons of 7inches back then.” They had the songs from their first show on. They wanted them recorded before starting on new ones.
The cover is by Erik Dæhlen, who has done all of Stabber’s art including the logo. A skeleton holding a bottle. Erik on where it came from: “The corpse/skeleton dude is inspired by the coverart of a band called Nurse and Mathias sent me a lyric mentioning drinking and other selfdestructive stuff so thats why the bottle.”
“It’s all about death and violence, delusion, depression, blood and greed,” Mathias says of the lyrics. “Goes for every song.”
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Kenneth’s reading of what Stabber does versus his other band, Invisible Hand, is the clearest description anyone has offered:
“In my head its two different worlds, whereas in hardcore punk Rolling Stones is basically a cuss-word, its worship for me as a player in invisible hand. hahaha! im getting fucking old…`ello! But its true nonetheless. Stabber is onpoint, no jams, skull to the wall, fuck you! Hand is rocknroll fury and based on blues, its another ballgame for me, kicking off from a concrete cottonfield cosmos.”
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Toshi sees more overlap than Kenneth: “For me Stabber and Hand share the same core. both are rocknroll but just different expressions of it. Stabber is a very straight forward hardcore punk form, and Hand is with more groove but still keeps a good punk attitude to it. but the way the bands work is completely different from composition of songs and all arrangements. Actually almost everything is completely opposite in a funny way. haha”
Ask Mathias what else is happening in Oslo right now and he goes one direction: Nervevrak.
His personal favorite. Kenneth describes them as metal and thrash heads with a working knowledge of obscure Italian and Finnish 80s hardcore punk, and says you can hear it. They bring a darker tone and pull old school metalheads to hardcore shows.
Kenneth’s list is longer.
Problems and Draumar come up first. Both are playing with Home Front shortly. “Problems is probably the most aggressive and violent band in Oslo, hehe,” Kenneth says.
“Its such an outburst of frustration! Pair it with ominous riffs and punchy drumming, its hard core.” Draumar are one of Oslo’s most active touring bands: they did a Canadian run with Bootlicker, and worked the European festival circuit. They are also active in Den bisarre lyd, a booking collective putting on shows at underground venues.
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Through that collective, Draumar have set up shows for Innuendo, Bootlicker, White Collar, Public Acid, Poison Ruin, Prisao, Vidro, Chain Whip and more.
Assistert Sjølmord, Que Lindo, and Asinin share members in various combinations. Assistert Sjølmord and Draumar share two members, and both have releases on Static Shock Records.
Que Lindo recently toured Japan and have a new album recorded.
Asinin tracked eight new songs at the old Endless Tinnitus for a forthcoming release. Their singer reminds Kenneth of a young Hasse from Stengte dører. As it happens, Hasse now fronts Knuste Ruter.
Kenneth plays guitar in that band too. Knuste Ruter have been going since 2008 and just released a 12″ on Sjakk Matt plater, run by Tarjei. Kenneth’s own gloss: “Tarjei the Legend!”
Skyggesiden are playing all over Norway right now, working a new take on the classic Norwegian hardcore sound. They recently found an old 8-track tape recorder and plan to use it for their next record. Kenneth says it’s a band everyone should look out for.
GUFF were once considered an Oslo band, now they appear out of nowhere and play in clusters. They toured Colombia and recently turned up in Trondheim, with Skyggesiden‘s guitar player Max filling in for the gig.
Bad Vibes are a younger band working a more modern hardcore sound, and they play across Norway constantly.
AG-3 are a younger, noisier band who, by Kenneth’s read, pick up the thread from Teppebombe, the band that pulled a younger and freakier crowd into Oslo hardcore and brought more chaos, more noise, and a saxophone into the room.
Anti-Social Rejects just celebrated 20 years. “They are a great bunch of people,” Kenneth says, “and when they play (especially a late show) it turns quickly into a rowdy moshpit. Legends.”
Disårder are basically the same band, with Daniel (ex-Negativ, Byllepest Distro) on vocals. Most members played in Disorder at one point. Per Kenneth: “they are very ehh, Disorderly.”
Molbo and Null tone come out of Oslo and share members but don’t sound alike.
Kenneth’s read: “Molbo is sounding more eggy, while Null tone sounds like they missed the ‘anarki og kaos’ compilation and decided to skip straight to 2026 and kick it!”
From farther out, Jubb in Bergen and Psykostat in Stavanger both get the nod.
Kenneth hasn’t caught either live yet, but says they sound great and bring their own voice. Psykostat members run Ond sirkel, a booking collective putting on shows on the West coast. Kenneth thinks Jubb members might be behind Neglebit (Nailbite), a numbered show series in Bergen, hitting its ninth installment next week.
Add Den harde kjernen to the list of collectives keeping shows happening across the country.
And then the return. Kort Prosess played their first show after fifteen years on hiatus this past June, at a small DIY backyard punk festival in their hometown of Horten. “I think that band is very unique in ‘Norway hardcore’,” Kenneth says. “I didnt hear anything like it, before or after.”
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