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Totalitär: S/T 12” (Prank Records) If you follow Sorry State and you haven’t heard there’s a new Totalitär album, I want to commend your skills at ignoring things! Totalitär getting back together for a reunion show last year was huge news around these parts (Jeff and Usman even made the trip to Sweden to see them), and when they announced a new record was forthcoming, we were all eager to hear it. What would it be like? Could the masters still hold their own after a 20-year break? If you’re interested in this record, you’ve probably already heard and read enough to know they have. Totalitär made a Totalitär record, and even though records by Exploatör and Dissekerad and Meanwhile and others have kept the d-beats ringing in our ears, that is a beautiful thing. These nine tracks are a total riff bonanza, with big hooky riffs, fast and intricate riffs, mid-paced riffs (though not many of them!), and Totalitär riffs of every other stripe. The rhythm section is as impeccable as ever, vocalist Poffen sounds invigorated, and the production is just gorgeous, with some of the thickest and most exquisitely textured guitar tones the band has ever sculpted. If you’re a fan, I can’t imagine how you could ask for anything more. The one thing that feels a little different is that, at nine songs, this is by far Totalitär’s shortest full-length. Perhaps as a function of its brevity, it doesn’t feature any of the unexpected moments that peppered previous records, moments that might make you scratch your head at first, but that you always grow to love. Beyond that, I find myself unable to nit-pick anything about this. I’m just so thankful for a new Totalitär record that I want to savor the feeling as long as I can.