Monday, December 11, 2017

Belated obsessions: Martyrdöd - List (2016)

If I'm to be honest, crust punk in general is a genre I've come to love and enjoy only in the past 6 or 7 years, although in the meantimen I've been sure to retroactively dig through its historical monuments, as I always try to do.

Martyrdöd, being consistently around for more than 13 years now, have always been a name to watch out for out of the ever-exploding scandinavian scene. Amid the chaos of new and interesting releases along with the struggle to keep up (among the always limited free time of course), List was the gem I missed during last year, and if I hadn't, it would surely have been among the top places of 2016's top 10. Martyrdöd always had a distinct melodic edge in their d-beat/crust clatter, but with List I think they've marked the genre for good. Folk melodies had never made their way through so distinctively and substantially and, if you're thinking that this has become at the expense of sound harshness and/or speed, well, you're mistaken. The Swedes are as extreme as ever, the vocals haven't calmed down one bit, only now there's always a lead guitar around to transfuse a melodic and epic edge to it all.

This looks very much like an album that will turn the heads of new listeners for this extreme form of hardcore punk, and the least you could do is take a little time to appreciate it.



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