Recently a package of assorted discs arrived and had me scratching my head and wondering just what I had in front of me from a label called Gaphals Records who I admit were completely new to me. Going through them I discovered that I had (apart from a couple which another reviewer took) no less than six records and CD’s which were all short, sharp, and Swedish and all of the hardcore variety in its various guises. So it seemed like a good idea to go through them and do a round up and discover just what the bands were all about as I went along. First up were two very nice slabs of vinyl with eye catching artwork which really had the records being begged to be pulled out their sleeves and a needle dropped onto the groove.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gaphals-Records/364591053618522
Plötslig Måndag whose name translates apparently to Sudden Monday (and don’t they come round so quickly) are probably the strangest and the most out there of the bands I have encountered 
here. Their EP (6.5) has a really heady and hefty sound about it with lots of distortion and nasal toned vocals. They cite early Sub-Pop and I can see that but also along with a heady dose of noise and post punk amidst it all dished up in a seething maelstrom of discordance. Brutal and beefy songs like Gyllene Freden are speaker rattling brooding slabs of sonic abuse with vocals and gang shouts driving them along. More definition was found on Tusen Nålar where spiky, angular, sharp guitar tones are at the forefront citing acts as diverse as Loop and Spaceman Three along with a monotone Swedish vocalist sounding a bit like a bitter Mark E Smith. Fritt Fall (that’s Free Fall) slews and judders around mixing post hardcore and acerbic Indie together in a massive but quite enjoyable wall of sound. This lot certainly stick out from everything I have received as being completely unconventional and against the grain, how bearable they would be on a full album though is another question.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plotslig-Mandag/338836502804999
Rosvo – Ticks And Ants (7) is a bit more easier to get to grips with partly as they sing in English and secondly as the vocalist Peter Dolving is no stranger having been in Mary Beats Jane and The Haunted in the past. Not that anyone should be lulled into a false sense of security as familiarity not only breeds contempt but as far as these four numbers are concerned also unveils a certain amount of lunacy. A huge bellow and drum battery takes us into the indignant mass of ‘Mommy Dearest’ and the vocals have a nice timbre to them which along with the seething spite from the music reminds a fair bit of Today Is The Day. Clean vocals hit harmonies that remind a bit of Perry Farrell too and it’s a hefty sound to get acclimatised too. One gets the feeling that Mommy has had her chips especially as next song is called ‘Start Chopping’ and it sets about slicing its way through things with cleaving guitars and thumping drums. Plenty of hate and rage going on here but it flows and gels perfectly despite the massive muscular tumult. ‘Seasick’ goes for the throat but as title suggests there are some skewed arrangements and it rocks and rolls all over the place even practically mocking pop-punk with its chorus. ‘Theme Park Family Fun’ is nuts, just like a family day trip or being on a ride you desperately want to get off. Purposely going out of tune it’s a tale of ‘Wonderful Life’ designed to make you cringe before it goes postal like a parent fed up with snot-nose whining complaints. “I hate these people!” Indeed! A band well worth watching out for.
https://www.facebook.com/rosvoband
Onto the CD’s and Scorched Earth –‘Cause And Effect’ (6.5) is a tightly honed 9 minute romp through three tracks marrying blisteringly fast hardcore with a bit of a street punk swagger and attitude about them. It 
appears that members of this mob have been involved in all sorts of other bands within the scene and toured Europe extensively during 2011. There is an immediate hunger and urgency about these tracks and they bite in hard and fast with rawkus, high slung vocals and a belting yet melodically honed attacking fervour. Once listened to a couple of times they embed within your head and make you want to jump off the furniture. Due to the belting pace A Greater Good does stand out but proving they can slow down and brood with intensity ‘The Dark Chapters’ starts with a sample before bouncing around in a slower but no less bruising fashion. The shortness of this one certainly left me hungering for more.
https://www.facebook.com/weareScorchedEarth
Angers Curse – ST (7) show their origins with a spear thrusting Viking on horseback on their album cover. They literally race through their 12 tracks in just under 20 minutes. It starts with a siren and then carnage ensues with straight up, blink and you’ll miss them slabs of anger driven hardcore punk. Their singer also hits the higher squawking end of the rage but it suits the music adding a solid urgency about things. You can imagine a seething mass of stage divers lining the stage and the band jumping around kung-fu kicking the air to songs like ‘Dead City.’ There is an air of NYHC about this and with gang shouts backing up the punch heavy songs which rattle around with anthemic chorus shouting “this is my war” with grit and determination. This should certainly go down with fans of SOIA, and early Pro-Pain and Biohazard. This is hard and forged with conviction, the melodies bounce you all over the place and the call to arms is pretty damn irresistible. Even though this is short it’s the longest time I have spent with any of these bands , 24 tracks with double the running time and they would have a full length album.
https://www.facebook.com/angerscurse
Damage – Weapons Of Mass Destruction (7.5) gives us quarter of an hour of US styled mayhemic thrash punk right down to its kick arse cartoon cover. You would never guess this 
was Swedish, the singer even has an American styled drawl and it’s the sound of the likes of D.R.I. through to Municipal Waste and everything in between. The only thing it would seem is missing is a song about zombies. Fast romps are designed to pogo and chicken dance to. You could totally strut around the dance floor with a massive Mohican and bondage trousers to songs like ‘This Is Our Show’ even if it’s about the band its music that totally demands audience interaction and it’s damn hard to sit still with it blowing out the speakers. There is a real classic sound and feel about this and you could cite a grazillion bands as it flings you around, all of them legendary from Minor Threat to D.O.A, The Vandals, The Stupids; well the list would be never ending but Damage do the job and literally throw a ‘Missile Attack’ of a disc at us. Gee shall I play it again?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Damage/280180958689794
Nope as time to round things up with Revenge – ST (8) who have another glorious cover that certainly eyeballs you up and grabs attention. With 11 songs in 14 minutes there’s no deviation in the speed stakes here at all and they even list the numbers on the CD as being on side A and B old school stylee. A well-known and used sample from Romper Stomper hardly ruins everything before we hit another hugely identifiable US style punk sound as classic as Damage but in a slightly different way. ‘Insomniac’ has a melodic hardcore chorus that does have me slightly worried but it’s just flung in amidst everything else which is hard as nails and suitably adrenaline fuelled. These are anthems for slackers, skaters and drop-outs and numbers like ‘No Gangs, No Crews, No Affiliations’ are highly reminiscent riff wise of the legendary likes of Black Flag and Dead Kennedy’s. ‘Cheap Wine’ is brilliant and with its ‘shut the fuck up and drink’ line it’s the perfect song for a bum-fight. This is probably the best USA via Swedesh punk album I have heard, hell listening to songs like ‘Manic Depression’ I had to pinch myself to remind me that I had not actually slapped an MDC album on. Obviously as this batch has proved there is a great underground scene and a diverse one in Sweden and Gaphals Records obviously have their fingers on the pulse as there wasn’t a duffer amongst this lot at all.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Revenge/272865182765505
(Pete Woods)
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