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picture by
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Exil showed up unannounced a few weeks ago, no discreet ringing or
polite knocking on the front-door no... Exil showed up with a big
shoulder kick, smashing the wood and dismantling the frame, a good lesson
for my carpenter and my locksmith... god have mercy on my wallet...
These guys have played in half of the best hardcore punk bands which have
come from Sweden over the last two decades (ok not really but you know
what I mean) and I don't think anyone who's really into that kind of music
would stay still when names like
DS13,
The Vicious,
Tristess,
AC4,
Bruce Banner
or
Epileptic Terror Attack
(to name only a few) are whispered to his tired ears... As for me, I'll
start to get severely agitated, my different members taking convulsive
shakes and more or less annoying spasms in random directions... There is
only to add that the singer is none other than Torbjörn who also
screams in
Leper
and used to scream in
Fukushima
and in one of my favourite swedish band, the almighty
U.X Vileheads, for me to become completely uncontrollable...
Well, here is the little appetizer I offer before announcing that these
guys started straight with an LP as a first release, the well-named
Warning released on
Armageddon Label
last July 23rd.
The cover artwork was made by
Joe B
who is far from signing his first
punk album cover art, you may have seen his work on releases by bands like
Subversive Rite,
Extended Hell,
Fairytale
and many more but also on flyers etc... Apart from the "nightmarish"
aspect of his drawing style, it makes me think of some 80s creepy sci-fi
comics I read a long time ago. Anyway I'm not a big fan of the colours
choice and of the "complexity" of the scenes he depicts but let's be
honest, it's still a pretty cool cover.
I was immediately hooked up by Warning's first and eponymous
track, how to not be convinced by the amount of energy delivered in this
great straight forward USHC song recalling the best releases of swedish
hardcore punk? It's fast, it's bursting right in your face,
Exil delivers exactly what you expect and it's hard to hide a
huge smile while you're rolling on the floor under a rain of hardcore
punk kicks.
I've listened to this album many times since its release, as I wrote
above I was really hooked up at first, but then, for some reasons, I
tended to feel a bit disappointed. To me the Swedish hardcore punk scene
is, without any doubt, one of the best of the 21st century and, on top
of all names dropped at the beginning of this post, bands like
Regulations, Damaged Head,
Agent Attitude,
Brudte Lofter (from Denmark ok I know) and even
Refused
are undeniable heroes of my personal punk pantheon and I really expect
the best song writing, the best hooks etc... well the best of everything when it comes to swedish bands to be honest
(yes I'm picky).
So in the end I can't say I was not convinced by what
Exil delivers, it's a super powerful hardcore punk album,
but to me it misses a few breaks, a few details here and there...
a few riffs are a bit "too much", the drums sound a bit too much
in the front, a couple of songs' sound a bit too cheesy... well
you know what I mean, it lacks the last layer of deluxe varnish
which propels an album from very good to exceptional... (what a
snob old bastard I am ahah!).
Can't wait to see them on stage though!
If you wanna know more about how alcohol and dvds can lead to hardcore punk and read some fairly interesting opinions about Swedish politics you should check out Exil interview on Cult Nation (for Razorblades And Aspirin).
N,J'Oi!
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