v/a "More World, Less Bank" compilation 7"
[Blindead]
Here's a hardcore/punk compilation of mostly Swedish bands that has a politically charged heading and offers up eight tracks of fairly consistent material as far as quality goes. Crossing Chaos (Sweden) kicks out some great hardcore/punk with a nice sense of melody, it's not upbeat or anything, but it's definitely memorable and borderline catchy - even with the burly vocal screams. There's a ton of energy and I like the solos and lead lines. In some areas this definitely reminds me of some older UK acts. Cluster Bomb Unit (Germany) drops an extremely brief track of heavy and in your face hardcore with lots of feedback and intense female vocals. There are only three quick lines of lyrics, but they still leave their mark. Uncle Charles (Sweden) is musically heavy as fuck, sounding incredibly similar to "Those Who Fear Tomorrow" era Integrity, but with absolutely scathing high-pitched vocal screams, and some slightly speedier hardcore/crust influences as well as some deeper vocal shouts at times. Excellent. Murder Disco X (Germany) plays fast, no frills hardcore with a good mix of tempos and straight yelling vocals, and as a simple title like "Pro Life Nazi Scum" might suggest, they're taking a lot of influences from the classics here. Human Waste unloads another of their raw tracks of Swedish hardcore/punk with a really dry, gritty tone and forceful vocals, not to mention a subtle dissonance that definitely adds to the song. Coma (Sweden) has the most rugged recording, so it's pretty hard to make out their song, but their style isn't so unlike that of Human Waste, but with a slightly more brooding approach that is highly distorted on all fronts. Lim (I'm guessing from Sweden), also suffers from a raw sound that's a bit bottom-heavy and lets the vocals dominate. In fact, I barely hear the guitars at all... but judging from the tempo and the general vibe they too sound not unlike Human Waste or Coma. The mighty Skitsystem closes out with an unreleased track from their last LP, but I must say, this song fucking rages, and it's better than a lot of the tracks from said release. Crushing metallic Swedish crust with Tomas Lindberg's token vocals... great work! The layout is nice as well. The outer sleeve is full color and displays come collaged images dealing with money, power, and poverty; and inside everything is high contrast black and white, devoting a quarter-page to each band for artwork/lyrics, etc. Most of the bands omit lyrics so I'm not sure what all of the tracks deal with, but those who do include the lyrics attack fascism, consumerism, etc. It's nothing new, but at least there's a message. This is a killer 7", though. And I'm very pleased that two of my favorite bands on the compilation are bands that I had never even heard of before, so that's always a plus! (7/10)
Running time - 15:00 (approximately), Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Crossing Chaos, Uncle Charles, Skitsystem]
Blindead Productions - http://www.attackfanzine.net

This review has been displayed 891 times.