偏執症者 (Paranoid)

Reviews

偏執症者 (Paranoid) Cursed CD

Dark and dreary from this summer, PARANOID returned with a powerhouse of chamber-echoing Swedish thrash metal, combined with their signature D-beat attack. Ten tracks of ’80s-infused metallic riffs under savage, raspy vocals and dense, punctuated percussion. Mid-paced and catchy, PARANOID is somewhere between CRUCIFIX and NIHILIST. I’m a big fan of DEATH BREATH and BASTARD PRIEST, and PARANOID always delivers, but even more punk. Actually, this might be my favorite recording from them (I have their covers cassette Out Raising Hell LP, and that session’s outtakes LP). It’s clear, harsh, and just moves like a war bison. A tornado of punk metal thrash and a dash of hardcore; breakdowns, anxiety, death, and destruction. If PARANOID has not let you down in the past, this is sure to hit hard as hell.

偏執症者 (Paranoid) S.C.U.M. EP

It can be tempting to write off bands that wear their influences too obviously; more often than not modeling yourself directly after another band’s style and sound can come off as disingenuous and cheap, like a knockoff of a better product, a “Wish” version if you will. On paper, PARANOID’s fusion of perfectly manicured Japanese and Swedish-style D-beat may seem like such an instance, but fortunately for them and more fortunately for us, PARANOID are masters of their craft and draw from their well of influences (VENOM, CELTIC FROST, DISCLOSE, and DISCHARGE) to create something refreshingly effective. S.C.U.M. is a whirlwind EP that goes hard right out of the gate, a vicious, evil take on crusty D-beat punk that is one of the best my ears have heard in a long time. “Shiminteki Fufukujyuu” (“Civil Disobedience”) starts things off with a six-second instrumental flurry before hitting the gas and heading straight to hell. In addition to all the hissing, fuzzed-out guitars, sizzling bass, raw vocals, and thunderous drumming you’d expect in this style, PARANOID adds some great flourishes throughout, like the rockin’ outro here that’s surprising in the best way possible. “Musabetsuna Kutsuu” (“Indiscriminate Pain”) has a couple of breaks that are nearly psychedelic with shrieking backing vocals, screeching guitars, and breakneck solo drum beats. “Jinsei No Kizu” (“Wounds of Life”) and “Sensou Nanimo Oshimazu” (“Sparing No War”) are two more scorchers, with some nasty bass lines in the former and tight, dueling guitar leads in the latter. “Uragiri” (“Betrayal”) is really the only outlier here, ditching the D-beat for a quick 30-second scorched earth grind of blastbeats and gang vocals that’s over before you realize it started. It’s a great set-up for closer “Taikeiteki Kunou” (“Systemic Anguish”), which returns to the rock’n’roll influence found on the first track. Galloping drums and righteous guitar solos wrap things up, and before you know it, you’re sitting in silence ready to take the trip all over again. Considering how long they’ve been active and playing this style of music, PARANOID deserves some serious credit for keeping things this fresh and exciting. It’s true what they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

偏執症者 (Paranoid) Tatari 7″

Japanese-obsessed Swedish maniacs PARANOID always go full-out on their releases, constantly putting out fresh stuff without losing quality. With just two tracks here, they solidify the direction that they are going in: heavy me(n)tal punk! Tatari is a companion 7″ to their digitally-released album Cursed, and pressed as a gift to whomever bought it through Bandcamp. The two songs are well balanced and make for great headbanging music for punks and metalheads alike. The leads get stuck in your head like any great heavy metal band’s licks would, and the steady beat reminds you that this is still a punk band in essence. Metal or punk? Who cares? You can see punk in VENOM as much as you can see metal in ANTI-CIMEX.

偏執症者 (Paranoid) Out Raising Hell LP

Sweden’s reigning D-takt kings are back with a monster (and a 12″ of outtakes as a companion release, because they are geniuses). The erratic fukkd up mania of 2015’s Satyagraha are all but gone, and a blackened mötorkång behemoth has risen in its place. Track after track of blistering, raw VENOM-meets-Kill ’Em All reimagined by veterans weaned on ANTI-CIMEX and ENTOMBED. I confess that the mid-tempo bangers like “光の館 (Hikari no Yakata)” are an adjustment for me, but this is a record to be listened to front-to-back (and repeatedly), and when “墓場の目 (Hakaba no Me)” comes lumbering, and then raging, in to close out the first side, I am hooked. I expected this record to be good—it’s better.

偏執症者 (Paranoid) Out Raising Hell Outtakes LP

This is a mini-LP of outtakes from PARANOID’s latest full-length Out Raising Hell. Regrettably, I have not picked up that album yet, but this is very appetizing, recording/production-wise. Diminutive chords (thinking VISIONS also from Sweden) and death metal infernal riffing conjure VENOM, REPULSION, and POSSESSED, also reminding me of contemporaries BASTARD PRIEST and ELEGY. I first got into PARANOID when I reviewed their Cover of the Month cassette some years ago, and was completely stoked on their choices, raging from death metal and classic metal, to crust and mangel D-beat hardcore. PARANOID’s execution plays confidently within the thrash metal/D-beat spectrum, and they make it sound easy. All the gruesome hardcore punk disdain with giblets of old school death metal. This latest LP is clearly headbänger-for-känger.

偏執症者 (Paranoid) Complete Paranoid Discography 2012-2017 2xCD

A fuckload (i.e. 50) of tracks on two CDs, housed in a nice digipak with an info booklet. I’m a little confused about the whole thing, with what sounds like English lyrics but with song titles in Japanese by a Swedish band. I’m guessing it’s an aesthetic choice, but I might just be a poser who doesn’t know shit about fuck. As a discerning fan of some noisy D-beat or Mangel or whatever, I still gave most of it up to collect late ’70s/early ’80s punk 45s! There’s only so much storage space in an affordable Bay Area flat, you know? And that was before PARANOID really came on the scene, so I own zero of their records, which makes me the perfect review candidate. I did not listen from start to finish because I don’t have enough alcohol and painkillers on hand, but skipping around randomly reveals that PARANOID is a capable noisy D-beat band with very effective imagery, and the occasionally referential nod to DISCLOSE or DEATH SIDE or any number of other noisy or Japanese things. My highlights are the MISFITS cover and STREBERS cover that isn’t on here (“2 Skott”), cuz it proves we have influences in common besides bands that start with D. So yeah I’m a bastard, but if you are a completist or need all fifty PARANOID songs ever in one package, then your prayers are answered. Jokes aside, Black Konflik = top quality.