Absolut Country of Sweden

Imagine my surprise when I learned the de facto Swedish national anthem, " Du Gamla, Du Fria," does not actually feature d-beats (though I'm sure as we speak Tomas Lindberg is pulling together a roster of Swedish punk greats to rectify that oversight).
Because in my mind, even beyond the greatness of Scandi-grind, Sweden first and foremost has always stood out to me as a joyous celebration of Discharge's swinging punk legacy just with way more umlauts. It's a story that begins with seminal punk bands like Anti Cimex and continues through .... a whole lot of other bands that also contain ex-members of Anti Cimex and whatever band Tompa hustled into a studio during his free weekend.
Where Discharge were pissed and spitting, the Swedes (while still dealing a decent amount of aggression) also seemed to have realized that a hopping d-beat can actually be fun. They're screaming, sure, but you can just feel the corners of their mouths quirking, fighting to hide back an idiot grin.
Or maybe that's because Swedish punk bands, like a lot of their Scandinavian kin, tend to stick to their native language, so I have no clue what they're saying. As Totalitar said in the liner notes to Ni Mast Bort!, "... I would feel rather stupid if I wrote about these subjects using someone else's language. This has nothing to do with nationalism, to me it's just a simple fact that I react, think and have much more complex knowledge of the language I grew up with." But language has never been a barrier with Swedish punk, the intent comes through in the musical chops and the vocal passion just fine without resorting to Babel Fish.
Since I've been binging on Swedish punk lately, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. I'm by no means an expert here and compiling this list made me realize my collection is short a few goodies (Krigshot! Svart Sno!), but I haven't made you guys a mixtape in a while and felt the need to share.

Swedish Punk [Mediafire]

Disfear - "Powerload"
Skitsystem - "Det Sociala Arvet"
Avskum - "Masskonsumtions Helvetet"
Victims - "This is the End"
Wolfpack (aka Wolfbrigade) - "Power and Greed"
The Great Deceiver - "Strychnine"
Anti Cimex - "Victims of a Bombraid"
End of All - "Fostrad"
Acursed - "Tunneln I Ljusets Slut Track 13 [Untitled]"
Totalitar - "Mediet Som Vapen"

G&P review: Victims (How Swede it is Again, Part 7)

Victims
Killer
Deathwish
The slavering V8 wolf’s head on the cover pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Victims’ latest slab of crusty as fuck d-beat punk.
Though it’s been available on wax for about a year, American hardcore staple Deathwish dragged Killer into the digital era. And seriously, what the fuck took so long? Seriously.
Guitarist Jon Lindqvist (who works days in Sayyadina) performs battlefield surgery on his guitar, and bassist Johan Erksson’s bestial roar has never, EVER sounded so pissed. Built on Andy Henriksson’s (also of Sayyadina) steamhammer drum assault, Victims scorch 16 tracks of elite Scand-beat crust that traffics in exceptional songwriting.
The aptly named Killer hits with the subtlety of a rush hour semi pileup. “We’re Fucked” (take away message, the world sucks and we’re fucked) is about as nuanced as you’re gonna get from Lindqvist et al. (In case that innuendo slipped past you unnoticed, follow up “Destroy and Rebuild’s” gang chant chorus “The world is fucked up” may hammer that point home.)
The transition from the gang chorused goodness of “Try?” to the spiked belt melodies and Discharge worship of “Killing” is a natural wonder that should be preserved in amber and unearthed for study and made the subject of dissertations by a more enlightened era that doesn’t equate buying a Green Day shirt from your mall’s Hot Topic with the true essence of punk.