Angkara Dogma LP

The chance that you have heard of ANGKARA is slim indeed, unless you live in Malaysia and own a studded jacket and as well as a couple of WOLFPACK shirts. I generally dig the Southeast Asian take on Swedish hardcore and D-beat for its energy and sincerity, and I was therefore easily lured by Bollock Records’ presentation of Dogma mentioning APPARATUS, BRAINCELL, or SKULLCRUSHER. This LP is a reissue of the band’s demo originally released in 2016, in memory of the bass player Pahrol who sadly passed in 2019. ANGKARA is not reinventing the wheel here, and would not have been out of place in the ’90s Swedish hardcore crust scene of Distortion Records. The aforementioned WOLFPACK, late CIMEX, SKITSYSTEM, or even BOMBRAID are the usual culprits, although ANGKARA’s sound is rawer and does not enjoy the same production (DIY or die, right?), but they still hit hard and the heavy käng riffs are there. It took me a couple of songs to get into the vocals though, and I would have wished for a more gruff approach, but I am being picky. A solid effort for completists, I suppose, and an all-around lovely time.

• Reviewer Romain Basset
• Label Bollocks / Resolve
• Issue MRR #502 • March 2025