Swedes Have Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fy Fan - S/T EP

So I asked my friend Alexis for a copy of the first Die Kreuzen stuff. A tape. It took her awhile to get it to me and in that time I found it online here. I did get the "Cows and Beer" ep at the start of side A, but that's not really here or there except to say props to Alexis for hipping me to this- the B side has a dub of the debut 7" of a totally ripping band from Malmo, Sweden called Fy Fan. Completely caught me off guard, like hearing the Total Fury 12" for the first time - Huh? I couldn't figure out when this thing might have come out. It could have been in the 80's for real.

It's very Dis influenced. The long, sordid history of D beat hardcore is not really the point here, but this record is to me significant on the subject. This band isn't doing the rote impression with a different tonal palette, e.g. more metal guitars (Framtid) and isn't doing the exact same thing but as noisily as possible (Disclose) (Just to name two bands I've been studying of late [remind me to post the split they did {Disclose up, Framtid down}]). Shit, I'm not so jaded that I don't hear the similarity between any of these bands and, say, the Freeze or Minor Threat, purely musically speaking.

So, I don't want to actually say that they sound like Discharge, because they don't. The less catchy tracks remind me of Poison Idea. There's something very State of Fear about a few of these songs. The guitar riffs probably. Hooks in the guitar lines and changing things up and keeping the songs short. That might be the most important thing in any style of music - The length of the songs. But especially rock of any kind. And MOST especially hardcore punk shit. Keep them songs short before I get bored.

Anyhow, I haven't been able to gush enough about this for the last week or so. It's got me wanting to start a hardcore band again, doing this style.
Did I mention that listening to this record when I'm pissed off is BETTER than punching myself in the face? If you know me at all you know how literally I mean that. C'mon, it's only 7 MB.

I got in contact with the band and the record is available from Feral Ward. The vinyl is there so click the link and pay up, chumps.