LP version. Hedvig Mollestad Trio present Black Stabat Mater. With three albums under their belts in less than five years this explosive trio have gone from strength to strength gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps and receiving vivid praise from the likes of Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke and veteran writer Richard Williams, who started his report from the Berlin Jazz Festival with "a late-night gig last week persuaded me that Hedvig Mollestad Trio have found a way to make head banging feel good". Although there is enough riffing here to satisfy the head-bangers, with Black Stabat Mater the trio are venturing into more free and open landscapes, Mollestad truly comes into her own as a solo guitarist as well as a riff-meister previously compared to the likes of Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page. It ´s also notable that extensive touring has given them a confidence boost, and once again the tracks have been laid down live in the studio with only minor overdubs. The last few years have seen a thrilling new progressive wave of Norwegian "avant jazz'n'rock" or free metal energy combos like label mates Elephant9, Grand General, Bushman ´s Revenge and Krokofant, and not to forget the mighty Scorch Trio - led by Finnish guitarist Raoul Björkenheim - who can be said to have started it all some 15 years ago. But it could very well be Hedvig Mollestad Trio that defines it all with their ability to turn the full force of heavy rock and electric jazz to demonic purposes. Hedvig first picked up her mother ´s nylon-strung acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father ´s jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She translated a biography of Jimi Hendrix for a school project and was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. The members of the trio are from the districts, but Hedvig met bass player Ellen Brekken and drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad at the Music Academy in Oslo. Hedvig asked them to join her after she received the "Jazz Talent Of The Year" Award at Molde International Jazz Festival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and their previous three albums have all been released on Rune Grammofon, Shoot! (2011) (RCD 2115CD/RLP 3115LP), All Of Them Witches (2013) (RCD 2141CD/RLP 3141LP) and Enfant Terrible (2014) (RCD 2157CD/RLP 3157LP), all to wide international acclaim.