Swedish double d-takt attack! What we can say? We love d-beat !!!!
Our take: Phobia Records brings together these two veteran Swedish d-beat bands for a well-matched split 7”. No doubt you know both these bands’ names if you follow modern Swedish d-beat, and while all four songs here are very much in that vein, they show how much room for movement there is within a style that’s often dismissed as derivative. Svaveldioxid’s first track, “Ruttna Bort,” starts with a gloomy intro and segues into a powerful d-beat fast part that’s heavy and punishing on the surface, but the more melodic guitar riffing I can hear at the edges of the mix gives it the textural richness of 2000s-era Avskum. Their second track, “Statliga Mord,” is more of a punishing, Disfear-type track (BTW, Svaveldioxid’s drummer is Robin Wiberg, who played on Disfear’s Everyday Slaughter), climaxing with a simple, repetitive guitar lead that makes me think of Anti-Cimex’s “When the Innocent Die.” As for Parasit, while they play a similar style, their singer has a rawer, more unhinged style, and their first track, “Tysta Skrik,” uses chords and rhythms rooted heavily in Discharge’s Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing-era sound. Then they totally switch things up for their second track, “När Skiten Rasar,” a more rocking mid-paced track that doesn’t sound like Discharge at all, but more like some of Totalitär’s mid-paced songs. Maybe at the end of the day, this one is for the heads, but the heads will find plenty to enjoy here.