Relase Date: February 27th, 2026
Label: Diger (CD/LP/Tape/Digital)
PIL & BUE: Fifth Full-Length ‘You Have Chosen Darkness’ From Norwegian PROGRESSIVE METAL Powerhouse Set For Release on February 27th via the Band’s Own Label and DIGER Distribution. LISTEN TO the First Stunning Single “Giving in” Everywhere via THIS LINKand Find the Radio Edit (WAV File) HERE. FFO: Coheed And Cambria, Mars Volta, Long Distance Calling, QOTSA, Mew, Deftones,… Preorder HERE.
PIL & BUE (eng: Arrow & Bow) – GIVING IN: Let’s head north, way above the arctic circle in Norway. Pil & Bue’s album “You Have Chosen Darkness” is set for release on February 27, offering a foretaste of their emotive, alternative rock, with the new single ‘Giving In’.
The tune has great momentum. This is music that should be played loud! It addresses doubt and fear, not as weaknesses, but as driving forces. It’s about acknowledging who you are, persevering through darkness, and never giving in. It’s about the great battle that goes on in the battlefields of the mind.
BIO: Pil & Bue is a two-piece, consisting of Petter Carlsen (the arrow) and Goeran Johansen (the bow). Their philosophy is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When they perform live, they sound like a full-blown band. “
…a two-piece vastly more than the sum of their parts, their deeply invested fusion of metal and pop-bordering melodic dynamics is given emotional rocketfuel by Petter Carlsen’s unrestrained vocals. Sia fronting Gojira is an approximation, but the result is exhilarating and uncontrived, and resonates on every level”– Jonathan Selzer, Metal Hammer UK .
With subtle, but pronounced references to artists like Metallica, Radiohead, A Perfect Circle, Anathema and Mars Volta, Pil & Bue delivers “Hard, gloomy & joyful music…” (Metal Hammer NO)
The band’s raw and melodic music quickly struck a note with Hollywood director Tommy Wirkola, who included the Pil & Bue single “You Win Again” in his now cult-status movie “Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 2014.
Also, their single “Fire” from their second album “Forget the Past, Let’s Worry About The Future” is featured on the end credits of Wirkola’s Hollywood/Netflix blockbuster “What Happened To Monday” (2017).
Petter has collaborated with German post rockers Long Distance Calling as the singer on their 2016 album “Trips”. The band Weather Systems, involving Danny Cavanagh of Anathema, also features Petter Carlsen’s voice on their new album “Oceans Without a Shore” from 2024.
Their latest album “Special Agents” was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy in 2024.
Credits:
Music by Petter Carlsen & Goeran Johansen / Pil & Bue
Lyrics by Petter Carlsen
Produced by Ariel Joshua Sivertsen & Pil & Bue
Recorded at Kysten Studio, Tromsø, Norway, June 2025
Distribution: Diger Distro
P&C 2025 Petter Carlsen
Photos:
Carl Christian Lein Størmer
ISRC:
Single “Giving in” (RADIO EDIT) – NOCUE2601071
Giving In – NOCUE2601070
Streaming Lonk (Long Version) https://diger.dashboard.audiosalad.com/share/lr83gZKq8NxyzVJrKfLj
(pre-save) (long edit) : https://ffm.to/givingin-pilbue
Further quotes “Special Agents” (2023, Indie Recordings):
“On their fourth album, the Norwegian duo again throws around influences that make a precise classification almost impossible. This is clearly to be understood as praise.”Visions (DE)
“Fans of the alternative rock/metal genre will find plenty to appreciate, but even those who enjoy diverse acts such as The Pineapple Thief, Mastodon, and Sigur Rós should not overlook this album.” The Metal Observer (US/UK)
“A well-balanced album with a joy of playing, rock ‘n’ roll know-how and the art of the surprising blow.” Pretty In Noise (DE)
“An eternal insider tip is back with a vengeance: Pil & Bue have been unpacking exciting rock records between alternative, prog and art since 2014, as rousing as they are playful.”Beatblogger (DE)
“This is undoubtedly one of the most talented alternative rock bands coming from Scandinavia.”World Of Metal (PT)
“Pil & Bue is a powerful duo from the deepest caverns of Northern Norway that, despite its minimal size, sounds like a full band.” Amped Up (BE)
“They expand their self-created universe.”Norway Rock (NO)
“The Norwegians play on atmospheres, aim to create moments, and one can feel that subtle narrative and emotional tension in the songs that often seem to be less songs in the classic sense of the word, yet inevitably attentive to detail.” Metalhead (IT)
“(…) we have thirty-seven minutes of raw and at the same time neat music that transmits joy, sadness, rage, hope… and above all, energy in abundance.” Rock For Spain (ES)
“One thing is for sure, their new album, it radiates freshness, contains very powerful riffs, very nice drums, an amazing voice, (…)” Greek Rebels (GR)
“Raw, energetic and atmospheric or simply put Pil & Bue meet all the criteria with their new album Special Agents, dedicated to the “everyday heroes” of our society.” My Revelations (DE)
DISCOGRAPHY:
Push Start Button, 2014
Forget the Past, Lets Worry about the Future, 2016
The World Is a Rabbit Hole, 2021
Special Agents, 2023