Socialstyrelsen – Med Rädsla För Livet LP (Various Labels)

Med Rädsla För Livet LP is a debut full-length album by Socialstyrelsen, glorious neo-crust band deeply rooted in obscure aesthetics of highly energized Swedish hardcore punk music. The band has released a couple of demo recordings, and EP’s since their formation in 2008, therefore they’re now fully prepared to unleash a comprehensive collection of pondering crust punk clusters to the wider audience. Socialstyrelsen strikes directly between the eyes with the monolithic doses of sinister neo-crust melodies, vigorous d-beat rhythms, and raging female vocals. Dueling guitars are providing a classic neo-crust virtuosities, mainly consisting of blackened crust harmonizations on one, and the obscure Swedish hardcore punk shreddings on the other side. Both guitars are combined with gracious dosages of fuzziness, but clean enough, so all the tones are hearable throughout the entire album. Eerie sounding basslines are soaked into subtle doses of distortion, but the bass guitar still retains enough massiveness to fulfill the ambiance with some low-end tones. Excellent drumming accommodates these orchestrations with enormously dynamic crispy sounding d-beat maneuvers. The outstanding layers of ferocious female vocals liberate intensity throughout the energetic instrumentations of the complete group, so the band sounds compact and fierce all the time. Socialstyrelsen retains high velocity throughout the entire recording, but also incorporates loads of thoughtfully structured transitions into more moderate rhythms. However, Socialstyrelsen maintains the main accent on gracious fast-paced crustcore music that will shake your bones during its entirety. The band solely relies on Swedish neo-crust heritage, therefore their record possesses certain similarities with the sound of Shades Of Grey, Misantropic, Protestera, M:40, Martyrdod, Skitsystem, Wolfpack, Wolfbrigade and many others who intersected their music with scraps of metal music. Med Rädsla För Livet has been accompanied by classic monochrome photography of an old piano located on some sort of stage. The album has been published on vinyl in a collaboration between a few record labels, such as Halvfabrikat Records, Phobia Records, Flyktsoda Records, and Dark Elk Vinyl. Make sure to check out this outstanding band if you’re a fan of melodic crust punk sound.