Søndra - Bränn Södermalm

The front cover of Bränn Södermalm

When Christian (not the singer, who's also named Christian) uploaded his live recording of Søndras gig at Kafé 44 in Stockholm last january I immediately pointed out that it was worthy of a cassette release. Especially the irratic vocals during the gig came across as very raw and gave everything an extra edge. This thought was then actually realized by Christian (again, not the singer) with the help of Jon over at Brus Tapes, which made me very happy. I ordered a copy as soon as it was done and here's my review of the final product.

The tape version of Bränn Södermalm, laid out in a horisontal manner

The tape comes in a clear orange shell paired with a four panel j-card made out of orange paper which gives off a nice feeling of care and effort. It feels like it should cost more than it does (Jon/Brus Tapes is one of the few people that still care about prices and always strive to keep them as low as humanly possible), so I was very pleased when I opened the package to say the least! When I put the tape in my cassette deck, however, I realized something was off. The volume was so low I could barely hear anything, it was only when I turned it up past 75% that I was able to listen to it. Apparently I recieved one of the few early duds (Jon got a new cassette deck and sorted the issue early on) but I promptly got the master from Christian so I could re-record the cassette to my liking. So now I was ready to listen to the thing properly and right off the bat I remembered why I wanted this in the first place.

Søndra is a d-beat hardcore band from Stockholm that sings in skånska (a southern accent). They've released various online demos over these last three years which they gathered on the compilation cassette "Rik På Krig" together with two new tracks back in 2023. This gig contains all those tracks except for 'Bottenlöst Hav' and even though it's a live recording the sound is really good and I would be just as pleased with only "Bränn Södermalm" if I missed the first cassette.

Both sides of the j-panel card

As I said, it's d-beat hardcore (a kind that dances over the line between råpunk and käng as Blogg As Fuck pointed out) and it has just the right amount of speed and anger to appeal to me. My favorite tracks are 'Borgerliga Tendenser', 'Mördarpräster' and 'Hjärtlösa Människor'. The entire cassette is great really, but those three stand out as particularly straight forward and pissed off. I also have a soft spot for the first track, 'Femicid', particularly because of the opening vocals where it sounds like the otherwise very nice guy Christian (this time I do mean the singer, which is also known as H.C. Røtten so yeah I could have used that name instead to differentiate them but here we are so let's forgive me and move on) stumbles in on stage like a mad drunk scolding everybody.

Because of the times during which most of the lyrics were written they naturally deal with the topics of the far right making progress, our membership in NATO, the deportation of children and some self-doubt, reflection and feelings of despair. Relevant and urgent. The two (at the time) new tracks 'Gryningsräd' and 'Femicid' still have no lyrics written down so I can't comment on those.

They had some trouble finding permanent members at the time of the gig so their old bass player Kevin picked up the bass one more time and Jens (Rawheads/Efemär/Nagasaki etc) saved the day on drums – and it sounds great. I asked them how it all worked out and Jens eventually became their permanent drummer and he brought Felix (also from Rawheads) with him to play the bass, so now the band is complete.

All in all I'd say this is one of the very best live recordings I have in my collection, both in terms of audio quality and material. Søndra is absolutely a band worth keeping tabs on, they say they have more stuff coming and personally I can't wait!