Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
The newest offering from Sweden’s long running hardcore band, going almost 40 years now. It’s been a busy couple years for Totalitar with this LP and a number of live gigs, which is rare for a studio only band that has still played live less than 10 times ever. For me, Totalitar is a band that gets more interesting as the progress, the earliest records sound derivative of earlier HC and punk, but not in a terrible way, a solid way that just doesn’t stick out to me. By the time you get to the Disclose split, they are blowing the Disclose side out of the water, and their masterpiece Vi Ar Eliten, they are locked into an amazing style of their own making. Their first offering in nearly 20 years, this self titled LP, I had huge hopes for what they may have continued to evolve into as I like their records more and more as they progressed as a band. Simply put, this is a good record, a solid effort for a 40 year old band, a record that will be enjoyed I’m sure by diehard fans of the band and Swedish hardcore, and a record any band should be proud of. To me personally in less objective and more subjective manner, it falls a little flat, and the hype and positive reviews behind it really surprised me when I finally heard it, and brings to mind a question as to whether we are relying too much on “safe” opinions of what we listen to in punk, and finding out about new stuff through the same small number of punk new release aggregators that tend to prop up the same mostly white and mostly first world groups of musicians? and if so do we need to start consciously looking elsewhere?
The newest offering from Sweden’s long running hardcore band, going almost 40 years now. It’s been a busy couple years for Totalitar with this LP and a number of live gigs, which is rare for a studio only band that has still played live less than 10 times ever. For me, Totalitar is a band that gets more interesting as the progress, the earliest records sound derivative of earlier HC and punk, but not in a terrible way, a solid way that just doesn’t stick out to me. By the time you get to the Disclose split, they are blowing the Disclose side out of the water, and their masterpiece Vi Ar Eliten, they are locked into an amazing style of their own making. Their first offering in nearly 20 years, this self titled LP, I had huge hopes for what they may have continued to evolve into as I like their records more and more as they progressed as a band. Simply put, this is a good record, a solid effort for a 40 year old band, a record that will be enjoyed I’m sure by diehard fans of the band and Swedish hardcore, and a record any band should be proud of. To me personally in less objective and more subjective manner, it falls a little flat, and the hype and positive reviews behind it really surprised me when I finally heard it, and brings to mind a question as to whether we are relying too much on “safe” opinions of what we listen to in punk, and finding out about new stuff through the same small number of punk new release aggregators that tend to prop up the same mostly white and mostly first world groups of musicians? and if so do we need to start consciously looking elsewhere?
