Corporation proxied prole schism and ivory castle-fought barbarism abounding speak to a new age of war all the time as Hudiksvall, Sweden-borne hardcore punk quartet TOTALITÄR return with a righteously incensed, noxious fourth full-length album. A definitive work from legends in their region ‘Totalitär‘ reprises the signature sound and furor of the band without compromise here, an authentic chunk of nine hardcore punk pieces yanked direct from the spiritus of their late-80’s heyday. Expect no break from their legacy on this all-killer shot of d-beat.

Totalitär formed in late 1984/early 1985 quickly making a name for themselves in the late 80’s (re: ‘Wallbreaker 1986-1989‘, 2003) not only as an influential troupe in Swedish hardcore punk but one of the more common mentions in the development of kängpunk/d-beat style. That era of the band indulged in early 80’s style hardcore punk wherein the noisome scrape of UK82 and the nauseating gate-crash of Boston/D.C. scenes ganged-up as a next generation beyond Mob 47, Avskum and Anti-Cimex in some regard. As far as I know the original quartet dropped out by 1989 ’til they’d been prodded to reform by No Security drummer Jallo, who has stuck with ’em behind the kit since then, and eventually released a debut LP (‘Sin Egen Motståndare‘, 1994). It was as the first of several times the band would pick it back up for a studio album and pull right back into the conversation. ‘Totalitär‘ is the fourth coming of the quartet who, as far as I know, have been a studio-only gig since the late 90’s.

For my own taste the band’s best material is split between their earliest 7″ records and their second LP (‘Ni Måste Bort‘, 1997) which ran the gauntlet best. While that does have a direct effect upon my judgment of ‘Totalitär‘ I think it’d be fair to suggest that Totalitär have always been consistent in their amped ideal and you couldn’t go wrong with any of their material. Some of their stuff is more melodic or polished (re: ‘Vi Är Eliten‘, 2007) but most of it skates nearby the ~1-2 minute mark, barks with great fury toward injustice, corporate control and a direct-to-skull vision for hardcore punk as an undying contra-cultural movement. A roundabout way to suggest they’ve still got it, haven’t watered shit down, and still carry their d-beaten signature.

If Discharge set the standard to start then ‘Discharge‘ (2002) probably sets the expectation for a comeback, too, but unlike that album (which I do like) the nine-song ~16 minute pump through ‘Totalitär‘ is authentic to Totalitär in totality. Screaming guitar noise (“Vad Är Det Ni Vill Ha?”), scream-along ganged choruses (“Stolta Barbarer”) and wall-to-wall shouted unrest (“Följ Din Diagnos”) definitely serve us some of the most brash and bug-eyed roughness from the group in recent memory but they do well to infuse melody, punk rock bap (“Älskade USA”) and such to represent their broader range. My favorite song here is probably “En Dag Hos Terapeuten”, as it kind of recalls early-to-mid 80’s east coast hardcore I’d heard in the band’s earlier stuff.

The comorbidity of “d-beat” and Swedish hardcore punk as phenomena represents a heinous, infinitely in-protest movement from brilliant minds and all of it is worthy of full immersion. For the unindoctrinated listener looking to gear-in there is a wealth of worthy bands one could recommend but it is for good reason that Totalitär tend to get the mention even with ~two decade gaps in their discography. ‘Totalitär‘ spells out out fast, furious and true to self here on this slasher of a record. A high recommendation.

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