TERMINAL ESCAPE: SWEDISH HARDCORE

Showing posts with label SWEDISH HARDCORE. Show all posts

01 November 2024

SVENSKA SPELMANSLAG

Look....this shit doesn't sound that great. Some punk probably nicked the tracks from youtube and dubbed them in a garage in the Central Valley on a tape deck they stole from St. Vinnie's. But here's the thing: It's not supposed to sound great. If you aren't sold on the irrelevance of fidelity by the time AVSKUM's "Livande Begravd" starts then I don't really know what I can possibly do for you. For the other TE readers in their right mind who aren't familar with the comp, I offer you this: MODERAT LIKVIDATION, SNOBB SLAKT, BRISTLES and PUKE mingling with lesser knowns like FRENETIK AGONI, SVEA SKANDAL, ORIGINAL SIN, KURI I KUVÖS and two absolute killer from SUBWAY ARMY. I missed a few I'm sure, but when you're dealing with primal SvenskPunk of this caliber...well, you get a little flustered. Essential blasting.

SVENSKA SPELMANSLAG 1

16 October 2024

DEMON SYSTEM 13

I remember the first time I dropped the needle on Aborted Teen Generation - it was one of "those" punk moments that you just keep with you. It was instantly familiar but it was also new...and it was more. I ordered a copy from Ebullition based on a MRR interview (my copy still has the ghost image of the Goleta address that pressed through the polysleeve), and I was not remotely disappointed. We hosted then in Oakland, and arranged summer travel plans to see them in Reno and Chico because...things were different and we were younger and that's just what you did then. So imagine my excitement in the new reality when I laid eyes on this tape while BAD WAITRESS was playing in LA last weekend....because I love the shit out of DS13 but I didn't have this tape. Well, now I do and my new reality self is giving a hearty nod to old (young) me for knowing what the fukk was up, because motherFUKKR this is (still) the shit that I need. The Studio Shit demo is more raw and in your face than that first EP, and the live set from Nyköping (aka Fukktown, apparently) is straight fukkn fire, even though and/or especially because Tom talks a lot. Fukk dude...I love punk and/or hardcore.

THE COMPILATION SESSIONS + LIVE IN FUKKTOWN

22 July 2024

LEBENDEN TOTEN // SKITKIDS

This tape was released twenty years ago.

Let that sit there for a minute.

This tape was released twenty years ago.

•••

When I first started posting on Terminal Escape in 2009, I was sharing seminal UK crust demos that were just barely twenty years old. And now...I'm posting a split between two bands who are my contemporaries, and the tape is twenty years old.

Weird things happen when you don't die, I suppose.

DISTORT THRASH DISTORT HOPE

17 May 2024

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.6

The beefiest contribution to the DIY Conspiracy series, from the bulldozer Scandi-crust of CONVINCE to SHEEVA YOGA's fastcore/grind and an absolute smasher from ΝΥΞΗ leading the charge. Bands from Chile, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Greece and Czech Republic spatter a Swede-heavy volume in a series born out of Covid isolation. Pop one of these shredders in and you'll be instantly reminded how big DIY punk is....and then you'll likely skip the reflection and start raging.

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.6

05 June 2023

TRISTESS

Eight minutes of early '00s SwedePunk mania on the second TRISTESS demo (to complement the almost nine minutes on the first), an absolute bomb blast from a criminally overlooked band. TRISTESS kinda just sound like what they were: dudes from stalwart turn of the century Umeå hardcore bands (REGULATIONS and ETA) ripping out raw nods to the Swedebeat kång their country is famous for - and the result predictably lands somewhere between the two. Sometimes "predictable" can be a casual dismissal, but when you're predicting a sound somewhere between DS-13 and TOTALITÄR...yeah, you know.

INGET LIV

19 August 2022

GREENEARTH VOL.6

This was an impulse grab with an overseas purchase of an Acts Of Defiance comp, and I can't seem to put the motherfukkr away. Absolutely killer collection of turn of the decade punk and hardcore from Europe, US and Mexico - some you should already know (SVART SNÖ, VALSE TRISTE, AUTODESTRUCCIÓN) and plenty of new faces for your ears. Feast upon SHATTER, REAKTION, ROLANDS GOSSAR, and a track from 23 TILL that is the fukkn summer jam for the summer that I always wish I had lived.

GREENEARTH VOL.6

23 April 2022

TRISTESS

My memory is that André gave me this tape in Umeå and told me that TRISTESS were only going to release cassettes. No vinyl, no CD, just tapes. My memory might be incorrect (wouldn't be the first time), but I remember how surprised I was when I saw the Vad Ska Vi Bli 12" and thought ".....wait a minute, he said.....!" No matter though, this shit needs to be on wax so ultimately I'm very pleased (the second 12" is a mandatory ripper too). For the uninitiated, this is a who's-who of early '00s Swedish hardcore - E.T.A., VICIOUS, DÖDSDÖMD, DS-13, REGULATIONS (and probably a dozen more bands of note) all have members involved in this racket. Fast, stripped down hardcore punk - nine songs in eight and a half minutes - and the vocals are pretty much perfect. I need to get the other tape up here too even though both were released together....on vinyl.

GE FAN I MIG...

30 June 2021

ZYFILIS

The first release from Malmö's ZYFILIS is a complete ripper. Every release from Malmö's ZYFILIS is a complete ripper, but the way the riffs just keep coming (and coming) and you know that is was the first shit? Like...what the fuck is gonna come next?!? (hint: it was more riffs). Beyond the riffs (seriously, they're worth even more attention than I'm giving them), ZYFILIS is all about Johanna's vocals; complete fucking ferocious intensity as they spit fire and fire and more fucking fire. The only respite on their self titled demo comes during the last track "Blodets Hav" - but it's a respite in the form of a midpaced squirmy one bass riff mosh part that draws out the inevitable with huge open guitar chords until it just fucking blows up. Like you know it would. And you can feel the room completely explode with it, even though you aren't in the room. This shit is real real good - and the records that followed might be even better.

ZYFILIS

26 June 2021

DESPERATOR

A healthy dose of ripping Swedish grind/metal/crust to start your weekend, because....who doesn't wan't a healthy dose of ripping Swedish grind/metal/crust to start their weekend? Thirteen cuts, ranging from '90s hardcore influenced smashers like "I Am Failing" and "Jennie Tolls" to pure fucking grinders like "There Is No Place In Hell." Check the song titles and you can see that there are tongues firmly in cheek here (I'm thinking "Anyone Want A Dildo?" and "Jurassic Dork," as examples), but the chops are real, the high/low vocals are brutal, and it's all gone in less than a quarter hour. And besides, who doesn't like to have a little fun on the weekend?

GREATEST HUMILIATIONS

17 August 2020

NERVVRAK

Uuuuugggghhhhh, so simple and so impossible at the same time. Just pure Swedish rage. Destroy Destroy Destroy: Fuck Off. Ten songs in ten minutes, and one of the songs is called "You Are So Fucking Stupid." How do they make this shit sound so easy?

DON'T NEED THIS SHIT

05 March 2020

AKAKABUTO

Allow me to present to you: a total ripper. Sweden's AKAKABUTO eliminate the divisions between raw Swedish hardcore, breakneck fastcore and euro crossover shits, and they create a complete fukkn monster in the process. Metallic guitars mostly concealed by a perfectly rough recording (I'm talking 1983 rough, not practice space rough), they blow through nine tracks in ten short minutes - stops, blasts, moshes...and gloriously fast hardcore. As if they were on a road between UNSEEN TERROR and ANTI-CIMEX and got lost after they stopped in Y2K to get gas and snacks. There's another recording from 2013 that I also (highly) recommend.

赤カブト

08 September 2018

HEINIKENT

While I can't really put my finger on what makes this different, I can surely figure out why HEINEKENT is good. Pure chaos in sonic form, these Swedes take raw and brutal hardcore and fill the cracks with sample laden dual vocal grind and make even the mosh stomps sound like pure neanderthal madness (take "Dynofet & Snuskig," for example). Maybe it's noteworthy simply because tracks like "Fyllcell" really just sound like they should be Scandicrust bangers but HEINEKENT simply can't reign themselves in (though "Supa Ner En Zombie" is textbook, and the lead is so perfect that it makes me wonder if it's actually just a pisstake). It's noisy, it often lacks cohesion, sometimes the high vocals are a little much....and then "Ambitioner Ska Bestraffas" drops and you hear those weird fukkn trade offs and you realize that maybe the problem is that you are not quite enough.

GRISNAR VIDARE

Perhaps after spending the next 25 minutes blasting 25 tracks of true freak crust you will want more HENEKENT. I would say that is likely. Find true freak crusters here.

02 July 2018

SEX DWARF

I know these Swedes flew just under my radar for a while - but that's my problem, and I hope to make sure that it's not yours. I heard about SEX DWARF a few years ago; they've been quite busy lately (I know this because: Internet), and I pretty much always assumed they were gonna be killer when I got around to checking them out. Vocalist Per doesn't really do "decent" bands - he just sticks with the rippers (PROTES BENGT, FILTHY CHRISTIANS, BRUCE BANNER) and SEX DWARF is no exception...except that holy shit I was still not expecting this. From the high speed pogo fury of "Din Gud" to blistering all out DBeat/noise assaults like "Märkt Av Livet," where your only breath is hearing the wash of the cymbals fade away while the bass blurs ferociously into the song's second movement, these fifteen tracks are relentless. You know the kind of release that makes you want to just rest for a minute after you listen to it....? That's Non-Stop Erotic Noise Cabaret. Well, I went back and listened to "Erat Spel" a few times in a row just to figure out what the fukk they were doing, but then I took a break.

NON-STOP EROTIC NOISE CABARET

12" wax by D-Takt & Råpunk and Konton Crasher, this cassette version is from KL label/store Tandang. Physical possession is sometimes recommended....today it is necessary.

19 January 2018

SOLO SE OYE PUNK

You've seen these comps before...I mean, if you have paid attention to The Escape then you have seen them before. There are four volumes of Solo Se Oye Punk (that I know of), and I might argue that this one is the most crucial (though Volume 1 is pretty fukkn essential) - basically, this is the perfect international hardcore punk mix tape. The one that your friend never made you because your friend didn't have the KORO single and had never heard of RAPPRESAGLIA. It's like internet-era punk making the pre-internet-era tape you wish had helped you change your life instead of listening to DEPECHE MODE until you were 17 and then finally figuring out that Punk Rules and that yes, you do need to listen to ATAQUE FRONTAL to be happy. This one leans heavy on Italy, USA and Sweden (I guess that's fair), but Finland, Japan, Poland, Spain and Peru make notable appearances. File under: Essential.

HARDCORE

18 May 2017

FERAL BRAIN

Here's your demo of the month, punks. Sweden's FERAL BRAIN drop eleven minutes of searing hardcore punk in your lap with the most mandatory vocal listening in recent memory. Don't get me wrong, the tracks are great (and there are TRACKS, you dig - not just a collection of riffs) and the high moments ("No Way" specifically - it's the rippingest fast hardcore song I have heard in fukkn years, and that might not even be hyperbole) are more than enough to make this demo mandatory listening. If you like hardcore and you like to get your face melted, and you don't care about what new thing is cool because you just want to go harder....then FERAL BRAIN is basically your new favorite band.

FERAL BRAIN

...also - the breakdown on "Judgement Day" is really REALLY sick...

06 April 2016

TIME OUT

Total relentless fury. Out of control Swedish hardcore with howling desperation from dual vocals, perhaps too fast and loose to still be DBeat. Eight tracks spanning thirteen minutes, this 1998 demo just crushes from the first rumble of "For How Long" and only lets up long enough for a few depressing and ominous missives from the annals of history. The 1-2 punch of "Backstabbed" into "Orgies Of Insanity" is textbook, a thing worthy of repeat listens and scholastic analysis. Riffs upon riffs delivered by piercing guitars....it's like being hit in the face by a freight train over and over and over. And still you scrape your jaw off the floor and do it all again.

.....HISTORIES WARNING

13 November 2015

STREBERS // BLANDAD PUNK, HC & KÄNG

My introduction to STREBERS was on my first Euro tour, when Rülle told me they were his favorite band and was more than excited to show me how great they were. Their approach is as infectious as relentless, starting with the impossibly catchy chorus to "Sanningen" inserted into the track's all out hardcore burn. Comparisons to contemporaries are not out of line, but the '80s Swedes had an uncanny ability to make that fist in the air hardcore that was still catchier than any of the pre-landfill pop drivel that denizens of the rest of the planet were regurgitating at the time. The 1991 collection Kaos & Skrål is a pretty perfect place to start, with EP tracks and some solid bangers from STREBERS' first 12" platter from 1986...and someone was kind enough to slap the thing onto cassette so I could share it with you.

KAOS & SKRÅL // BLANDAD PUNK, HC & KÄNG

And speaking of kind, that same someone filled the B-side of that STREBERS tape with a starter kit titled Mixed Punk, HC & Crust. Essential rippers from ANTI-CIMEX, EXTREME NOISE TERROR, YOUTH OF TODAY, NO SECURITY, and because so few homemade compilations are truly perfect there are a few tracks from the debatably interesting but often unlistenable then-future commercial juggernaut TEDDYBEARS from when they were just a kinda weird rock band (be careful, the internet suckhole related to this band can be detrimental to any kind of constructive activity and may adversely affect your opinions of humankind in general and pop culture specifically). But on a positive note, it had been a while since I had blasted ENT and that band still crushes so hard. The B-side of this tape is an excellent primer for the uninitiated and a ripping refresher for those already in the know. Quality.

12 September 2014

REA RESPIRATOR

They are still out there, those scarcely unearthed bands from decades gone by. And in this case, some screaming Swedes get treated to a cassette reissue of their 1986 demo by a label from Croatia....I would like to thank The Internet, because I swear these two entities might have never met otherwise. These are the gems that fell through the cracks when that handful of movers and shakers were furiously dubbing and trading tapes in the '80s....and there must be more, right?! (feel free to send them to me, by the way) Off the rails, spastic and ultra catchy hardcore/thrash here, eight tracks from the demo and seven more from tape comps and who knows where else. Bring it on, because this shit is great (ROVSVETT, 16 B.U.H. people involved here, so the "great" part isn't really a shock). Cheers to Aftermath Tapes for digging this one up, raging shit. And to everyone else....you're welcome.

SLÄPP LOSS ALLA BAND

08 July 2014

SMÄRTSAM UTLÖNING

This Swedish/American combo might have started as a simple project amongst friends, but the result is undeniably ripping Scandithrash by way of DISCHARGE. There's nothing fancy, but the riffs are beyond stellar and the delivery is essentially flawless - USHC makes a brief appearance in "Dö Ditt Jälva As," but despite the North American contingent partially responsible for these jammers, this is pure Swedecore brilliance. I suggest that you stop paying attention to cool things long enough to get into this mania.

SMÄRTSAM UTLÖNING

17 February 2014

NISSES NÖTTER

Malaysia's Black Konflik threw several killer cassette reissues into the pot last year, and while it's great to have SVART PARAD and DISORDER tapes blasting out of the boombox, but this 12 song banger from 1984 is probably my favorite reissue of last year from any label. These pre-teens from Göteborg were an absolute force - hyper fast blow out hardcore, unhinged and full of the kind of energy that I've come to believe that adults simply cannot conjure. The drums are a textbook example of hardcore punk drumming, and that element of NISSES NÖTTER is where I keep turning my ear, even while the rest of the band is raging beyond belief and the singer is wailing in pre-pubescent frustration. A full LP/CD re-issue came out a few years ago with live and rehearsal tracks, while this release is simply the Knäckta Nötter demo in all its fury. It blows my mind to think that I am basically the same age as these dudes, and that when they were making these sounds, I was listening to QUIET RIOT and THE CARS.

KNÄCKTA NÖTTER