Grade: 7/10
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Skallbrand - Mad man's rumble CD-R
Genre: Punk/crust
Origin: Sweden
Released: 2006
Website:
Label: -
Uploaded: 11.07.06

This is the band�s first demo, released not too long ago, and they�ve only been around since October last year. So what we�re dealing with here is a very young and ambitious band.
The Discharge reeking Gas War starts off the demo, and I prepare myself for old school British crust worshipping. But while there�s a big dose of crust in about half of these songs, the rest are pure punk with a pinch of rock. The energetic, sing-along friendly Cop bastards is a cheerful (at least music wise) track of speedy riffs and pissed off lyrics. But after that cheerful note we get a down-tuned, heavier and even more pissed off punk track in Barnsk�ndarsvin. The song has a great chorus and an awesome guitar solo about 1.30 into it, which gets your body rockin� uncontrollably. Iskallt helvete is a harsh, crusty track with, once again, a killer guitar solo that instantly gets your feet stompin� and body rockin� like crazy. But no matter how great the music can be for the remaining songs Mad man, The loser isn�t me and Rude vibes I just can�t fucking stand the vocals. Crappy, distorted female vocals reminiscent of the early 80ies. But it just sucks and completely shatters the powerful music. Joel�s vocals can be both harsh and a little gentler, so why the hell�s he not singing? Well, that�s a mystery to me�
I love the fact that they mix both Swedish and English lyrics, but it disturbs me that he sings in some generic Swedish dialect instead of embracing his true heritage � sk�nska! They vocals would sound a hell of a lot cooler if they were just in his original accent. �Cause if I remember correctly from hearing him speak at a gig he sure speaks sk�nska. Anyway, a really great demo (despite the awful vocals at times), and it surprises me it�s their first. If they keep this up they�ll be taking the punk and crust scene by storm.

Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Gas war
03. Cop bastards
04. Barnsk�ndarsvin
05. Mad man
06. Iskallt helvete
07. The loser isn�t me
08. Rude vibes