Fuck yeah, baby. Here's some blistering hardcore/punk from Sweden. 15 tracks in less than a half-hour. Expect vicious vocal tradeoffs between varying levels of screaming, some faster blasts as well as churning Swedish crust, some thrash metal that's played with more of a raw punk edge, a little rock, etc. The recording is really different for this style in my opinion, but I like it a lot, mainly because the guitars are sort of thin and dirty, but that really gives the bass a shitload of room to roam around. The drums sound great, and everything is mixed pretty tightly, so it sounds good. It's not as heavy as a lot of this stuff, but that's cool because it keeps the metal sound out of the picture and lets the songs just rage right through. "Under Signs Kalla Sjta Rna" is a straightforward track played in the classic sense that even throws in some unexpectedly rocked out leads, "Gammal Svensk Arbetsmoral" is slower and far more discordant - bringing in a darker and more oppressive feel, "Nedräkningen" is far more rhythmic and almost has a post-hardcore thing going on in segments, etc. I have no fucking clue what the deal is with the saxophone in the title track, but thankfully that doesn't stick around for long, because it sticks out like a sore thumb and really sort of sucks! The layout is pretty bleak, using mainly shades of black, gray, and brown, with one band photo and some sketchy illustrations of human figures. The lyrics are all in Swedish with English song explanations, and the content is very serious and covers the general issues of police brutality, politics, crime, oppression, greed, drug abuse, etc. But the song explanations are very sincere and give me the impression that this is an intelligent band that really does care about their message, which is awesome. This is a killer disc. They don't sound like every other band out there and are pushing the genre in their own diverse yet cohesive direction, which rules. Check this out for sure!
[Distortion]
Running time - 26:08, Tracks: 15
[Notable tracks: Under Signs Kalla Sjta Rna, Gammal Svensk Arbetsmoral, Nedräkningen, Livet Är Ett Lungemfysem]
Distortion Records - http://www.distortion.se
