Fear of Extinction / Warcollapse split EP
This split EP is a perfect example of punk lexical fields. With the bands’ names being made up of words like “fear,’’ “extinction,’’ “war,’’ and “collapse,’’ one can easily guess that they are not going to deliver retro ’90s ska-punk, which, to be honest, is a relief for humankind by and large. I missed out on this even though I follow Phobia Records closely in its divine mission to convert the masses to Swedish hardcore, so I was fairly curious. WARCOLLAPSE has been a favourite of mine forever and their brand of gruff Scandicrust effortlessly exemplified the classic crustcore sound, and they have kept producing solid works until today. I sadly have to confess that I could not get into their latest album, but the two songs on the EP are more in line with what I expect from the traditional WARCOLLAPSE sound. The first number is a heavy and metallic mid-paced old school crust number, while the following adheres to the typical fast and dark Swedish crustcore blueprint. On the other side you will be faced with two songs from the long-running FEAR OF EXTINCTION, the most Swedish-sounding band of Czechia. I would lie if I claimed to be conversant with all their discography, but this is excellent. This merry bunch worships at the altar of late ANTI-CIMEX and WOLFPACK, and they do so with the utmost devotion. Punishing, intense, and proper angry. You can tell they know what they want to achieve and how they plan to go there. Whether you want to embark on the journey is completely up to you, but at least neither of the bands lies about the destination.
