Try pronouncing that after a few beers! This morning I had a message waiting for me from the mysteriously named ‘K’ at Gaphals Records from Sweden. The Scandinavian scene is becoming a bit of a recurring theme on Rip It Up at the moment; there is a healthy punk/hardcore/metal scene going on there for sure! Anyway, I checked out a couple of releases from the label and thought I would mention this one, which is actually an LP that has been around for a while, although the release date is given on the label’s Bandcamp page as April this year because Gaphals have now released it in gatefold sleeved vinyl glory.
Skraeckoedlan is a doom band from Norrköping in Sweden, comprising Henrik Grüttner on lead guitar, Martin Larsson on Drums, Robert Lamu on vocals and guitar, and Tim Ångström manhandling the bass and providing backup vocals. They have been cranking out heavy jams since 2010, having already produced two eps prior to Äppelträdet, their debut album. It’s good to see something quite diferent from what is ostensibly a hardcore label – myself and DeHud were beginning to think that Eastern Poland was the only place where doomy riffage was being practised!
Kicking straight into a no-nonsense, bass heavy jam, the band excites at once and brings to mind a more lively feel that some of the recent Polish stuff we’ve been featuring. This appears closer to Fu Manchu, or some of the early SST bands in terms of its lively pace – but it offers the same gorgeous layers of riffing and traces of psychedelic guitar. In fact it’s almost a perfect synthesis of melodic hardcore and doom – which is a pretty damned good mixture of you ask me. This is available as a download or as a vinyl release from Gaphals by clicking on the link. I’ll bring you more releases from this label in due course!
rip it up 