Skitsystem - Stigmata
At a Disfear show some years ago, I saw Tomas Lindberg sitting by himself at the merch table. He seemed forlorn, and surprisingly un-iconic. I don't recall if he had dreadlocks then, but for sure he didn't look metal. He looked crust-y, fitting for much of his post-At the Gates work. While history will remember him for metal (i.e., Slaughter of the Soul), he seemed more at home as a crust punk.As metal/punk voices go, Lindberg's is like home. (Perhaps only Lemmy's growl and Rob Halford's falsetto elicit more affection.) In Skitsystem, he (correction: guitarist Fredrik Wallenberg and bassist Alex Höglind) sounds like a house burning down, in a good way. Skitsystem is the darkest and nastiest, and thus my favorite, of Lindberg's post-ATG projects (correction: although he wasn't on this record; see comments). It's d-beat, natch, but with death metal heft; push those thrash beats any harder (imagine horses mercilessly whipped), and they'd tip forward into blastbeats. They don't, though, so they're pure tension, blood vessels about to burst. "Blodskam" has black metal atmosphere (dig those "Seasons in the Abyss" chords in the middle); "Stigmata" is like a hail of police batons.
I'm pissed that the band recently broke up, and I'm usually not pissed about these things. (In fact, I wish bands broke up more often.) Every time I hear Stigamata (Iron Fist, 2006), it speaks truth to me, even though it's mostly in Swedish. It's one of those "come home from work, put your hand through a wall" records.
Skitsystem described one of their own 10"s as "so fierce it made ears bleed, the heart to d-beat, and knees to wiggle." Amid blood letting, boss punching, and boner popping, knee wiggling was the least of it.
Stigmata is available for free download at Skitsystem's website. You can also buy it physically at The End.
Labels: clee, d-beat/crust punk, sweden
4 Comments:
Great band and album, but Tomas actually didn't do the vocals on this one. They were split between Fredrik and Alex.
Agreed that this album is amazing, and even though Tomas isn't on it, I think it's my fave Skitsystem. I'm sure some of the DM and BM riffing comes from the fact that Fredrik was in the brilliant, but sadly underrated Swedish death metal band Sarcasm. If you're interested in checking out some more deadly Swedish crust/hardcore, you should track down Oral's 'Slagen I Blod' EP, which was ex-ATG guitar player/songwriter Alf Svensson's band.
Have you heard "Grå Värld/Svarta Tankar"? That one's always been my favorite Skitsystem album by far. That shit absolutely killed me the first time I heard it. So fucking heavy and driving... just awesome.
Wow, that's embarrassing! Tompa Lindberg indeed left before this record. Thanks for pointing that out! I was wondering why none of the dudes in the picture really looked like him.
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