Reviews

Havoc

Disfear Soul Scars LP reissue

This is a mammoth reissue from Havoc Records. This is the A Brutal Sight of War era line-up of DISFEAR abominating a ruthless Scan-D-beat echoing riff onslaught. DISFEAR hits the tempo spot-on with a repetitive hexing of hardcore bestial anti-warpunk. The drums cut the air like the propellers of a war chopper, the guitar buzzes like a blowtorch, the bass crushes all in its path. Soul Scars is harsh attack from beginning to end. I think you know what to expect; but DISFEAR always hits the target and decimates it by the time the LP is through. Like DISCLOSE pound like a torrential rain, DISFEAR thunders and explodes. Even the mid-tempo tracks are as fast as many imitators play entire sets. DISFEAR has the timing and simplicity for the style that is perfect. The vocals are a charred furnace. Being a band since the late ’80s, there are many dimensions to their classic style. Even their name is straight to the point! They remain kings in the D-beat arena. I saw them once at CBs in 2006 with Tompa on vocals, and hearing this reissue takes me back to that pulverizing set. Defenders of the D-beat until the end! Definitely worth your attention.

Disfear Everyday Slaughter LP reissue

The final installment of a series of DISFEAR reissues serves up a D-beat masterpiece that has been out of print since not long after its release back in 1997. It’s nothing short of a crime against punk that this album has been allowed to collect so much dust, but thankfully Havoc Records, et al. have rectified that grave oversight. Housed in a gatefold sleeve and including a bonus two-song 7” with the first hundred records, Everyday Slaughter sounds just as vital and crushing in 2024 as it did when I first heard it over twenty years ago. This is an undeniable, indisputable classic of the genre and it demands to be played loud. The riffs require it! Of the endless number of Dis-clones that have come and gone in the intervening decades, very very few have come anywhere close to the proficiency and sheer brutality demonstrated here. Look, if you like D-beat as a genre even slightly, then this is required listening. There should be an OG copy behind glass at that goofy-ass museum of punk rock (or whatever) that opened recently in Las Vegas, though I bet there’s not. Do yourself a favor and snag one for yourself before it goes back out of print again.

Humant Blod Flykten Från Verkligheten EP

Pedigrees don’t make bands, but they’ll sure as hell make you pay attention, and when Poffen (TOTALITÄR, MAKABERT FYND, DISSEKERAD, etc.) and Mattis (MAKABERT FYND, DISSEKERAD, etc.) hooked up with a trio of Americans from QUESTION, SAD BOYS, MERCENARY, POX, ZERO, CONDOMINIUM, SUBVERSIVE RITE (and others), people fucking paid attention. We all assumed it was going to be good, but HUMANT BLOD is better. Complete and total rage from start to finish—relentless, fist-banging käng. I feel like if anything, the students here might have inspired the masters, and the result is an absolutely classic piece of wax. The internet has already melted over Flykten Från Verkligheten, so I might be preaching to the choir, but holy shit, this is a great record. Choice cut, “Ingen Kontroll,” if only for the solo.

Wolfbrigade Progression / Regression LP reissue

Before this review, I realized that I had not played WOLFBRIGADE for a very long time. And I am not sure why, because they have become something of a classic band, one of the few Swedish hardcore bands whose popularity transcends the DIY hardcore punk scene (in general, accusations of selling out are never too far away when this happens). It’s a little tragic but, while I do play WOLFPACK regularly, I don’t think I ever really sat down and paid properly attention to Progression/Regression, the band’s first album under their new name, and to be honest, I do feel like a bit of an idiot for it. This album is a hardcore bulldozer—it hits really hard, it sounds mean and unstoppable, as if darkness itself were shattering your bones. The production is massive (more so than on 1999’s Allday Hell), thick and heavy, and there is a feel of relentless unstoppability to the work that leaves one in awe. Intense shit. I am not necessarily the biggest fan of their take on the käng genre, but listening to this again makes me want to ride a bike into the wasteland wearing boots and a bandana. Musically, we’re still heavily in the dark hardcore period of the band when they maximized the late ANTI-CIMEX sound with the addition of a Swedish death metal influence in some guitar leads and in terms of epicness. I almost hear some of POISON IDEA’s rocking darkness at times too, although WOLFBRIGADE is quintessentially Swedish. This is undeniably a real ’00s hardcore classic and it still sounds fearfully powerful. Agipunk and Havoc Records had the sense to offer a new cover because the original was quite dreadful, if quite typical of the ’00’s. A welcome reissue.