Hell yeah... raging hardcore from Sweden with a classic US sound circa the early- to mid-80's. Make no mistake though, because they're heavily influenced by that style, but they're not living in the past, there's an obvious edge to this that's totally modern without disrespecting its roots. This is their best material yet, still fast and on the dirty side, but this is much more focused and controlled than what I've heard from them in the past, and the songwriting comes off as more memorable as a result. Few songs top a minute-and-a-half and there are a lot of tempo changes from driving speeds to slightly slower breaks or blazing intensity. And don't forget the dual vocal attack that constantly shifts or layers between ripping screams and throaty yelling! "Final Command" has a crusty sort of punch to it; "The Hardest Monkey to Kill" (a song lashing out at pop culture) ends with a tongue-in-cheek riff pissing on "The Hardest Button to Button" by The White Stripes; "Fit for Fight" is quirkier and almost has a winding sort of Black Flag thing happening; "Support the Troops or Else..." is slower and quieter, driven by the rhythm section; and "Race Mixing" is one of the catchier numbers. They also drop covers of "Interz?ne" by Joy Division (which sounds oddly rocked out) and "M?tera" by Missbrukarna (which fits in perfectly well against their original material). The recording kicks ass for this style as well. Everything has at least a faintly dry distortion to it, including the bass and some of the vocals. The percussion (which sounds awesome) is the only thing that has a cleaner sort of sound. The mix is dead on, the tones sound like they were going for a bit of a dated sound without sounding weak or ineffective, and there's a lot of cohesion and warm density. Good stuff. I fucking love the layout, which is chock full of bright yellow and bold imagery with lots of high contrast and old school punk typewriter type. All of the lyrics are included and deal with a variety of topics in the same general way, which is to be pissed off and to the point, but with a sense of humor and fun about it. Expect attacks on blind patriotism, racism, the mainstream's standards of beauty, hardcore fans who constantly live in the past, etc. I think the final lines of the opening track sum it up perfectly: "If you hate it we don't care, About your ears we don't care, Our thrash destruction you will fear, We are Bruce fucking Banner!!!" I'm into it. If you like no bullshit hardcore/punk you should be too. It's got enough energy and pissed off attitude to blast away for 25 minutes and call it a day. You know it's gotta be pretty good if it's on Busted Heads, too. And come on, there are songs called "Fuck Me", "Shut the Fuck Up", and "Bullshit"!? You can't lose...
[Busted Heads]
Running time - 25:50, Tracks: 19
[Notable tracks: Shut the Fuck Up, Nostalgia, Final Command, Bullshit, Race Mixing]
Busted Heads - http://www.bustedheads.com
