Bands of this ilk are the reason I hurt my arm and damaged my pride 2 weeks ago. I am a portly man of 45 years who still cannot get past the idea that I cannot ride a skateboard. As part of my day job a teenage lad decided to teach me the basics. Then as I was starting to think of myself as the next Geoff Rowley (by this I mean rolling slowly for 2 feet) I went over backwards hitting wet tarmac to the look of concern from my young sensei. The concern for someone who obviously appeared extremely inept and old in his eyes is what stung most. 偏執症者 (Paranoid) are the kind of band that I have listened to since I was 14 that have made me want to whizz through the streets on 4 blazing wheels.

Paranoid (to give the pronunciation) are a Swedish Raw punk D-Beat band and Heavy Mental Fuck Up! Is their second foray into long play chaos. So far so “Dis” you think. Wrong!  Whilst these three Swedes certainly have a love of Stoke’s most ferocious they also share a passion for Japanese hardcore and punk. It’s for this reason we find a Swedish band writing all song titles and lyrics in Japanese, singing in English and making a blistering beatific racket whilst doing it.

Heavy Mental Fuck Up! Is 12 tracks of true crossover punk. This is not metal meets hardcore. These dozen dazzlers mix up D-Beat, Crust, classic punk, Thrash, Metal, even elements of Black and Roll – most noticeably on Daigyakusatsu. (Try hearing the vocalist scream Massacre and not think of Bathory or Sabbat (JPN).  This is what happened three kids Jack, Henrik and Jocke who between them grew up listening to Iron Maiden, Kiss, Discharge and Black Metal fell hard for Japanese bands like Disclose, Framtid and Contrast Attitude.

The result of this concoction is a fist pumping mix of frantic beats, chug along riffs, bonkers bass solos and out of control lead breaks. It all sounds like the best squat party you could ever go to or the sound track to those old skate vids Thrasher put out in the late 80’s.

The production is great. It treads the fine line between underground punk and great to listen to even on MP3 which many punk and thrash bands fail at- tending to veer one way or t’other.

Straight up D-Beat tracks like “Arashi No Me” are chops to the throat in a similar vein to the OD –B (see wot I did) Discharge “End of Days”. “Shi Ni Itarumade” turns up the Motorhead influence to great effect. Elsewhere there is pure nardcore ala RKL and original crossover kings D.R.I . traits are there as well – whether they mean it or not.  This is what I mean by a true crossover album. I could go track by track typing about this chugging bastard of a section and that wild guitar solo but this is definitely an album to experience not read about.

The cd version has two extra tracks to piss over its MP3 brother. It’s worth it. “Shirarezaru Mon is a raw blackened punk blast that would have blown my hair off if I had any and Yogen has big brass balss made of metal. Venom meets Entombed with liberty spikes.

Heavy Mental Fuck Up!  Could save your life. If you have had a bad day or a hellish year this will unleash all the demons. Trepanning for the ears. Ruddy marvellous. Uppa Punx !

(8.5/10 Matt Mason)

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https://pndftw.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-mental-fuck-up