Bomberna Faller Fanzine

Exploatör has been around for ten years at this point and I can't believe no one has ever called them out for their blatant rip-off of Totalitär! I wonder what the people in Totalitär would think about this. The guitarist have probably been "heavily influenced" by Kenko and Jallo in general, because it sounds just like their work. That's not a bad thing of course, I just wish people would try to do their own thing as well and not only look at what came before. Even the vocals sound exactly like Poffen! It's distinguished in style, timing and structure. Again, it's evident they love Totalitär and so do I but they need to develop their own style – be themselves!

Exploatör's got this cool vibe to them, it's both aggressive and catchy at the same time, and it's incredibly tight (apart from some vocals here and there, again, in the same vein as Poffen). It's what you'd get if you took notes not only from Totalitär but also Kvoteringen, Verdict and Meanwhile... Along those lines, know what I mean? And it's been like that throughout their discography, right from the start with their self-titled 12" EP on D-Takt & Råpunk and through all of their LP:s on Phobia, 'Apokollaps' being the third and latest. The last album before this ('Blind Elit') even had a cover that could've been a Totalitär cover back in the day, there's no hiding who their idols are!

Let's put aside their shameless copycatting for a while and focus on what's really on offer here. Ten furious tracks that span over 18 minutes (two more tracks and a couple of extra minutes if you've got the vinyl, I'll get to that in a minute) of unrelenting old school hardcore punk. The vinyl comes in three flavours: regular black, black/silver and "ultra clear with silver splatter". I've got the latter and it's accompanied with a lyric sheet, a poster and a sticker. The sticker and poster are the same print, based off a very low quality file (the original was made with white background and when going to black background someone probably just used the paint bucket tool, not caring what parts of the artwork also became black in the process) so I suspect that was a quick and dirty afterthought. The inner sleeve is lined with antistatic plastic which I love, that means I don't have to replace the paper sleeve with an antistatic one myself. I wish more bands/labels did this.

The overall theme is centered around how the world is coming to an end, pretty much. The consequences of late stage capitalism is in full force, we're at the point of no return when it comes to the climate, the world belongs to the rich and racist, there's genocide and war going on and everything is just… it's full speed ahead. The apokollaps (a swedish mashup of the two words apocalypse and collapse) is upon us and you can really feel the urgency of it all on this album.

There's a total of twelve tracks, the last one being a cover of Lädernunnan's classic 'Ensam I Natt'. This one is, however, exclusive to the vinyl version according to Phobia. There's also another track only appearing on the vinyl, 'Helvetiskt Mörker' (hellish darkness), I don't know why that one isn't mentioned at all online. My favorite ones are definitely 'Idiotin Ökar' (the idiocy is increasing), 'Fegheten Råder' (cowardice prevails) and 'Högersvin' (right wing bastards). I'm always down for good songs about how stupid nationalists are and the call for action instead of cowardice.

So, to sum things up Exploatör plays really competent, potent, urgent, dilligent, disponent, Kent, what? Am I having a stroke? Anyway, they're really good and I like all of their releases so far and this one in particular. I just wish they'd show more of their own personalities and not only do what their childhood heroes would've done. Let's take a look on the back of the cover and see who these people are. Oh... Oooooh... So it kind of is Tot... Well, eeehm... Nevermind then!

Exploatör - Apokollaps