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Hello and thanks for reading. Today I am writing about two things I have been spending my free time absorbing this week. For the first time in over three years, all my LPs are out of boxes and (more or less) alphabetized on a shelf. It feels pretty good, especially being able to locate where an LP is when I wanna jam at any given time! Well, except for a few that I can’t seem to find... We will see how long that shit stays organized anyways, though. My 7”s are not kept alphabetical at all. I do have to keep contemporary records separate from 80s bands. And of course, I have the “90s banger box” that contains all my favorite 7"s that were released in the 90s. About two years ago I actually separated my 80s 7"s based on country after I saw that’s how a friend kept his stuff, haha. Some nerd shit right there, but it does make it way easier for me to find records I want to play. Anyway, getting to the stuff in my photo up there; I want to mention the book before getting into the record. I didn’t know about this book until very recently, when a dear pen-pal of mine suggested it to me. I was gushing with excitement over this upcoming Råpunk book and he mentioned The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk in reply. Even though each book covers a slightly different span of years, I am sure lots of stuff will be mentioned in there that has already been covered in this Swedish Punk book. However, it seems the writers have a much different approach to what they are documenting. While they both have an archival approach to them, the Swedish Punk book is certainly directed more at record nerds. The Råpunk book seems to be loaded up with tons of photos and a lot less text, almost more like they are documenting the time and scene rather than focusing on records alone. I don’t have a Råpunk book yet, so I won’t say much more about that book in comparison. I really love how The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk really is an encyclopedia. There are tons of band photos, and pretty much each band has a biography. Of course, the writer tells you about the members of each band, and mentions other bands they were in. I really appreciate that. There is a map of Sweden depicting which city each band came from. It doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me, haha. I haven’t had a ton of time to examine the book, so I wonder what errors I might discover. As there is always going to be at least one error when compiling something this big. In the beginning of the book, the author, Peter Jandreus, mentioned he first started on this project in the mid 90s. I can’t imagine trying to compile a decade long history of punk from a prolific country like Sweden thoroughly and accurately, AND without the internet. He said the book took over a decade to make. I think it finally came out in 2008. I like the way he formatted the content. It’s really easy to follow and jump around. There are full color scans of each record cover and a bit of information on the release. There is also a “valuation” scale for each release, which is a cool addition I think. Each record has a number of stars next to it, from 1-10. Of course, 10 stars is rare as fuck, and 1 is common. Naturally, this addition made me very curious. I’ve peaked around and it’s very interesting to see some records rated like 7 stars go for $100 or less. I know the “value” of any record is subject to change over the course of years, but I still found some a bit shocking. The only thing I wish it had was information on pressing quantity. That would be top content for a record nerd like me. The book also leaves out cassettes. Maybe that just would have added too much stuff to track down and document? Understandably so. But as a result, I noticed that BLACK UNIFORMS is only mentioned in passing and I haven’t seen any mention of NO SECURITY yet. TOTALITÄR is specifically mentioned but only to say they were a 90s phenomena, and their 1987 7" debut is omitted from the Encyclopedia. I’m sure the Råpunk book will fill in these gaps for me, as it is focusing more on the second wave of punk in Sweden, raw punk. In the end, I find the Swedish Punk book to be extremely useful already and I expect to discover many bands I have never heard of, especially bands from the late ‘70s! It reminds me of the Flex books, but overall maybe a bit nicer in presentation and format. Another thing I am really enjoying is that often times there are stories about the bands, ones that you’d probably never hear about unless you were from that time and place. There are some pretty good ones, as Sweden was a country of much alcohol consumption, haha. If you’re a Swedish punk/HC fiend or just want to learn more about it, I would strongly suggest you pick up a copy. I found this link here where you can get a copy from the publisher. It looks like it would be like $50 after shipping from Sweden to USA. I just searched periodically the last few months and found my copy on Ebay for $35, so if you have patience I would go that route.
I think I’ve said before I don’t know a ton of Norwegian hardcore, but what bands I do know I absolutely love. PSYKISK TERROR has always been one of those bands where I’ve heard very little from and I’d die to hear more. When I heard Cease Fire! was working on this back in February, I really could not wait. For ages, the only material I was familiar with was their track on the X-Port Plater 7" compilation. I didn’t know about the tracks on the Molde Punx compilation until 2020, when it was reissued on LP. Their tracks here are much more in the vein of punk, instead of that pummeling yet melodic hardcore sound I associate closely with Norway. These tracks also appeared on the Raped Ass Vol. 2 cassette. I can’t really remember but it was probably around that time I discovered via Discogs that PSYKISK TERROR had an appearance on this Noize Of Norway cassette from 1985 as well. I felt like a dummy for missing these tracks before cos I was already familiar with this cassette because of SVART FRAMTID. They have songs on there that were never released anywhere else! I almost managed to get a copy in 2020, but unfortunately in the end the guy couldn’t ship to me cos of Covid-19. Maybe one day... At least now I can enjoy those PSYKISK TERROR songs in all their glory cos they are compiled onto this reissue. The first few songs that start off the reissue are from that cassette. The tracks sound a lot more like Swedish hardcore than I expected. They remind me pretty heavily of CRUDE SS, actually. In comparison to the early tracks on the Molde Punx comp, here it sounds like the band was going for more of a DISCHARGE sound, but they hadn’t fully evolved into that melodic sound yet. I think the band had a revolving line up, so that probably added to the changes in songwriting. The A side finishes off with their track from the Nå Eller Aldri 7" compilation on X-Port Plater I mentioned earlier. There is a nice booklet that is included with the LP. It’s got tons of photos of the band, flyers, their squat, and some other stuff that really captures the time and place. Inside the booklet they explain when working on the latest BANNYLST reissue, they discovered PSYKISK TERROR tracks that were never released! The B side starts off with a few of these songs. The sound here is much more in the vein of what I expected; raw and pummeling hardcore with a melodic edge. Hell yes. The B side finishes off with two songs that were previously released on an LP compilation that I have never heard! I had never heard of this comp Smelling Just Another Bad Breath, but it looks cool as hell. It was released in 1986 by German label, Double A Records, and it’s got tracks from all over the world. I’m just now learning about the compilation, so I have no idea yet if it features all exclusive tracks or what. In the end, I think this is yet another great release from Cease Fire!, especially given that it’s the first time PSYKISK TERROR has been given some attention they deserve. It seems there are a handful of excellent archival type labels going right now, and Cease Fire! is one of them. I can’t wait to see what is next! Anyway, I should probably get running... Grab one of these. PS: Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for your support!