Uncurbed "A Nightmare in Daylight" CD
[Crimes Against Humanity]
As highly touted as this Swedish hardcore/punk band is, I've really not heard that much of their stuff, so I was glad to see this reissue show up. This is the band's second full-length from 1995, originally released on Finn Records and out of print for some time. Of course their sound is relatively fast hardcore/punk with more than a few similarities to many of their Discharge-loving Swedish contemporaries, though on this particular outing things are not overly heavy by any means. There's no metal involved, just raging chord progressions and a killer dual vocal attack with tradeoffs between burly lower shouts and midrange sneers, and both of the vocalists have a lot of individual character to their voices that helps give the band a bit of an edge. "Mercenaries of War" is obscenely fast, which makes the more midpaced and unusual "Raise Hate" (which has sort of a dark rock 'n' roll vibe in a way) all the more of a standout; as the title would suggest "World in Chaos" is a catchy rager with no bullshit; and after a misleadingly slow intro "We Will Never Be..." blasts through some of the more intense and consistent speeds herein. "Dishing Out" is another track that's slower and has more of a rock thing going on, and these are some of the most memorable tracks herein as a result in my opinion. But really, no song hits three minutes, so they pretty much blow right through this stuff without messing around, and it doesn't get old. The tracks were recorded by Dan Swanö at Unisound, so as with many such works from the studio at that time the sound is a little thin, but the mix is decent and it works out in the end. The vocals are slightly loud and there's a lacking presence of low-end, but you can hear the basslines, and I think the guitars and drums sound pretty good. Were the bass thicker and louder it would make an immense difference in how hard this stuff hits. My only complaint is that the reissue was more than likely not remastered, as the output volume is pretty quiet by today's standards, so I think it would've been a good idea to go back in and kick things up a little to try to make minor adjustments to how this thing sounds for the re-release, you know? The layout's not that hot. The cover photo is typical but cool, the other photos are a little strange, and it's mostly plain text over black backgrounds. The lyrics are succinct as hell in classic form (again, ala Discharge), taking on war as the key topic, with a few other little socio-political commentaries seeping in. "Total darkness on mother earth, But don't give up your life today, We must raise our heads - and kill the fucking sorrow, Total darkness on mother earth, You must strive on through the fear, We must raise our heads - and look out for tomorrow." Good stuff. An incredibly consistent half-hour or so with very few major variations, but that's pretty much par for the course with this style of hardcore/punk, isn't it? They write good songs and they've got a pissed off attitude. Sign me up. (7/10)
Running time - 32:17, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Raise Hate, Dishing Out, World in Chaos, We Will Never Be...]
Crimes Against Humanity Records - http://www.cahrecords.com

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