Hävittäjät: Ilman Toivoa 7"

Hävittäjät: Ilman Toivoa 7" (Active-8 Records) I must admit this new 7” from Australia’s Hävittäjät caught me sleeping. The band released their first 7” way back in 2014 and we even carried their first LP on Hardcore Victim, but somehow I never really checked them out. However, when this new EP on Active-8 came out, people came out of the woodwork to talk about how great the band is and how much they love their previous records. Since Hävittäjät is new to me, I can’t really say anything about how Ilman Toiva fits into their discography, but I can tell you this EP is a total scorcher. Hävittäjät’s lyrics are in Finnish, but don’t go in thinking this is some kind of cosplay band… while you can hear classic Finnish hardcore in the background here, it doesn’t sound like Hävittäjät is trying to recreate some lost moment, and the production is clear, powerful, and modern, not like the faux-vintage recordings a lot of throwback-y stuff can have. Tonally, Ilman Toivareminds me of the Turku band Kieltolaki, who released a string of excellent records in the 2000s and 2010s, many of which came out on the legendary Feral Ward Records. Like Kieltolaki, Hävittäjät sounds big, powerful, and pummeling. Instrumentally, most songs are straightforward hardcore with a lot of variation in tempo and groove, which pulls you through the EP and keeps it interesting, with the Finnish lyrics lending it some of the flavor of classic Finnish punk. There are more explicit nods to Kaaos on the tom-heavy, mid-tempo track “Rakennettu Tuhkasta” and the closing ripper “Masentava,” but there are also elements like the bursts of fried, noisy guitar that pop up throughout the record that feel like Hävittäjät’s own thing. I’m particularly partial to the faster tracks here, like the blistering B-side opener “Viha Synnyttää Vihaa,” but everything here is designed to deliver maximum impact. People with a particular interest in Finnish hardcore should definitely check out Hävittäjät, but lovers of no-nonsense hardcore of all stripes will love this. Certainly one of 2026’s essential hardcore punk EPs.