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Hello and thanks for reading. I was out of town last week, so I haven’t really had any time to listen to records since my last staff pick. When I returned home, there was a parcel waiting for me from a friend in Finland that I have been really looking forward to. There were various tapes and records inside (including some stuff for Sorry State) that has me excited as hell, but I will save that for next week. Instead, I am going to write about this week’s Hardcore Knockouts - namely ERNST AND THE EDSHOLM REBELS.
EXISTENZ has appeared in two matches now and they lost both times. To me that’s insane. I think that record is in the top 25 sickest Swedish hardcore 7”s. Maybe they are too obscure or something? Last time they were paired with ARROGANTA AGITATORER. Both bands were originally from Helsinborg. ARROGANTA AGITATORER seems obscure as hell to me, but that 7” has been reissued, I guess. EXISTENZ’s 12” has been reissued and I have always wondered why they haven’t done the 7”, especially since they are active again!!
Now, when I say their 7” is in my top 20 Swedish hardcore 7”s, E.A.T.E.R.’s Doomsday Troops 7” is also without a doubt on that list. Yes, this record is raw and fast (maybe a bit on the sloppy side at times, haha), but I think the choruses are really what make this record stand out so much. Whether it’s the gang vocals or catchy guitar riffs, I find the songs stuck in my head often. If you haven’t heard this record, definitely check it out.
While E.A.T.E.R. originally appeared on Really Fast Vol. 1, my introduction to them was when Doomsday Troops was reissued. If you clicked that link I just dropped to check out the EP for the first time, or if you don’t already have one of these reissues, you need one. It’s funny, I always thought Havoc released this, but Havoc is only credited for distribution. Ten bucks says Felix handled all the manufacturing and/or keeps it in print, haha. In Havoc Records tradition, this reissue is super nice. The paper is a lot nicer than the original actually, and it comes with a repro of the original booklet.
The same year that record was reissued, Hardcore Survives released a 7” entitled Abort The System, which included four unreleased songs from the 80s. I actually had no idea that Distortion had also released a compilation a few years before that, which included all the tracks from Abort The System and Doomsday Troops. It didn’t just include those songs, but it also included their split tape tracks and some unreleased songs. One of those unreleased songs is “Death Wish,” which seems to be from the same session as Abort The System. I don’t want to spend too much time explaining all the different versions of songs, but between that compilation and E.A.T.E.R’s bandcamp it’s amazing all the killer shit you can hear. I read they had another session besides Abort The System that was never released, and you can actually find some of these songs on their bandcamp as well.
Let me back up a little bit, though. If you don’t know E.A.T.E.R. outside these 7”s, I would suggest checking out their split with INCHARGE. While the style is a bit more primitive, you can still hear some serious melodic tendencies here and there as well. It’s killer. E.A.T.E.R. was from a small town called Grums, and I think INCHARGE were like the only other band from there. I tried to find a link to drop for the INCHARGE side of the split, but I could not find any that were worthwhile to share. Two of E.A.T.E.R’s tracks from this tape were also used on Really Fast Vol. 1. On that Distortion compilation I mentioned, they noted those two songs were from an earlier session, but I think that is incorrectly credited and that entire tape was from 1983. Micke Blomqvist recorded both bands at his studio Kloakens A.A.S. I think he recorded all the E.A.T.E.R. stuff actually, but I am not sure about some of these demo recordings. I’ve mentioned Micke Blomqvist time and time again, and that will probably never stop cos this guy deserves so much credit. If you don’t know, Micke Blomqvist was in ASTA KASK and operated a recording studio where he recorded tons of bands like ANTI CIMEX, AVSKUM, ASOCIAL, SVART PARAD, CRUDE SS, NYX NEGATIV, and RÖVSVETT.
Alright anyway, so I mentioned I had read about an unreleased session from the 80s. Well really, I had read about two unreleased EPs from the 80s and I am pretty sure Abort The System is one of them. I found this unreleased demo tape on YouTube, but the style of playing has got me wondering when this was recorded. All the song titles are also in Swedish and that makes me think. You can only find their songs in Swedish on their split tape that came before the EPs. I mentioned earlier you can find some unreleased songs E.A.T.E.R’s bandcamp page, and these “demo tape” songs were some of them. I still included that YouTube link earlier cos oddly they excluded one from their bandcamp.
There are many odd but cool things about their bandcamp, haha, namely their “alternate” version of the Distortion compilation they have up there. It’s like an entirely different track listing. They even added a “smurf” version of a track, where it’s just sped up like hell, haha what the fuck? They also drop another unreleased song, this time “Slakt.” I can’t tell for the life of me what session it’s from, but it’s fucking sick to hear. It sounds a lot like ASTA KASK. They’ve also added some rehearsal recordings that kinda suck, alongside what sounds like old 80s live recordings that are pretty cool. There is also another version of a song from their split with INCHARGE. That was cool to hear, but the SUPER cool thing to hear was the demo recordings of Doomsday Troops. If you haven’t heard this stuff and you love that EP like me, I’d suggest checking it out immediately! Alright, I should get going. Thanks for reading.