Finally, i get to put my hands on one of the most anticipated albums of the year, “Paranoia” by Swedish band Martyrdöd.
I must confess that for me, Martyrdöd are one of, if not, my favorite band when it comes to crust. But this band is even better than the average crust band, they play this face melting blackened crust with some awesome old school thrash/black influences. Since I discovered “In Extremis” back in 2005 I was completely hooked by the powerful sound of this band, and became a huge fan since then. As a matter of fact, “In Extremis” still gives some spins almost every month on my iPod or even in my car’s stereo, blasting the speakers off. This time, debuting their 1st release by the hand of Southern Lord, whose shadow eclipsed lately a handful of bands within the genre and subgenres, such as Wolfbrigade, Acephalix, Heartless, Dead In The Dirt and many others. On one hand that is great for these bands because Southern Lord is one of the most recognized labels out there that holds some of the biggest names when it comes to heavy music. Honestly I was a little concerned knowing that Martyrdöd were under the wing of Southern Lord, thinking about what would come out of there in terms of sound production, since i loved the last two original releases of the band.
But as i listened to “Paranoia” my concerns faded and immediately realized that i was standing before another great album. The sound seems to have returned somewhat to the days of “In Extremis”, it’s not as down-tuned and more obscure as they sounded in “Sekt“, but this one comes with a much more clean and refined sound production, don’t get me wrong though… the weight is still there, deep inside. No matter what these guys do, it’s their thing, it sounds like… “Martyrdöd“, this could be almost a music genre. You could throw in some melodic riffs, a banjo or a piano, that in the end it would still sound like Martyrdöd. I mean, this band sound is unique amongst the crust horde.
[audio:http://staging.cvltnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Paranoia.mp3|titles=Martyrdöd – Paranoia]
The album kicks off with “Nog Ar Nog” which translated to English means something like “Enough is enough”, and this is the perfect track to open hostilities in “Paranoia“. Immediately we are slaughtered by the powerful abrasive crust, almost as a hand grenade exploding in our face. This track is a true hymn to the masses, in my mind i can almost see vocalist Mikael Kjellman screaming on a pedestal above our heads, before an endless crowd: “Enough is enough!!”. From here on the sonic assault continues as these blasting metallic riffs interwoven between a rampant d-beat pace that sound almost as a runaway train, the difference is that the machinists behind it know precisely what they are doing. They have everything under control. I’ve always enjoyed and admired the band due to their sound, just like the awesome Skitsystem, who’s face melting blend of metal and crust is one of the attributes that definitely relieves them from the rest of the pack. What usually happens in most of the crust albums is that they rarely have something innovative about it, when it comes to the tracks, that usually don’t captivate the listener and avoid falling into boredom. In albums of the genre when we move to the next track, we no longer remember the previous one, it all sounds a bit the same. But somehow i don’t feel that in “Paranoia“. The band delights us with some of the most sharpest riffs and solos, and a voice capable of creating deep breaches to a wall. We got some more metal weight on tracks such as “Ett Harata Av Eld”, definitely one of the best tracks on the album. A strand of the most pure crust/d-beat like in the title track “Paranoia” or even a more punk influence as in “Det Sker Samtidgt” or “Kottberg”, that has all the requirements to be considered almost as an anthem of its kind, a song capable of being reproduced in many other bands as a cover. I can imagine that already. Overall this new album sounds just like good old Martyrdöd, full of sharp, incisive riffs just like the teeth of a large black wolf that with his bloodshot eyes, pierce deep within our skin. “Paranoia” continues and follows the lineage of excellent albums that the band has put out there and the more you hear “Paranoia”, the more it will grow on you. A serious contender for the title of best crust album of the year. Check out the title track below and confirm that this is one of the heaviest releases of the year.
“Paranoia” is already out, grab it directly at Southern Lord Store although it’s also available at the usual places like iTunes or Amazon. Get it!!
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