Bomberna Faller Fanzine

In March this year Magnus told me "Panikattack has started playing again, with a new name". They already had material for a tape and were looking for labels. I was absolutely willing to release their tape (Bomberna Faller is also a tape label) as the music sounded really good, but I then learned that it would be a co-release between Mosslik Tapes, Brus Tapes and Misslynt (and Bunker Punks/Prescription in the US). I didn't really see what I could bring to the already crowded table, so I declined. Having said no to this project isn't all bad, however, because this means I can review the final product now that it's out!

So. Is it Panikattack but with a new name? Well... yes. At first I thought "Well, how similar can it truly be? It's the same personnel, sure, but if they changed the name then I guess something is new." I popped their tape 'Ett Sista Farväl' (2022) in my cassette deck and had a couple of listens to refresh my memory going into this review. Spoiler: it's extremely similar, but I still think we should start at the beginning, so here goes.

The tape comes with a 4 panel J-card and a paper sticker label on the shell. There's no lyrics included when you unfold the J-card, instead there's a somewhat generic image containing skulls, bones and rusty barrels in a design that doesn't really fit the rest of the artwork, so it feels a bit like someone went "it's sort of boring with just plain white on the back, let's put something there". The sticker on the shell have one skull on the A side and two skulls on the B side, which I think is a nice touch - even though the program repeats on both sides so there's no need really to be able to tell them apart. The audio quality on the tape is good, and the old familiar feeling of "they could've charged more for this" is once again present, as with all releases where Brus Tapes (and Mosslik for that matter) are involved (the tape is 40 SEK / €3.5). Scene busy bee Ced Forsberg recorded and mixed this, which makes sense because of his history with these guys (he played drums in Anger Burning and recorded/mixed Panikattack, for example).

Shitcontrol plays käng, scandinavian d-beat hardcore, whatever you want to call it, and even though that comes with a set of characteristics such as short repeating riffs and a certain rigidness it's still groovy. Sure, a lot of bands in this genre have a groovy quality to them as a result of d-beat paired with a slower punchier heft, but Shitcontrol manages to accomplish this without slowing down whatsoever. It's full speed ahead from the first second of the first track all the way through, all while maintaining a sort of flair.

This leads us in to Robin, the bass player. He's the most talked about when checking youtube comment sections - and I can see why. He seems to have so much fun with the bass and it really adds an extra layer of entertainment to the whole thing and certainly contributes to the aforementioned groovyness. Though to be fair his style of bass playing was just as wild in Panikattack and Bombardment, but it's more pronounced in Shitcontrol. Well, at least their mix on 'Hungriga, frusna och lamslagna', who knows how they'll sound on the next release where they're reportedly leaving the 4 channel sound behind. In his earlier bands (Assassination and Anger Burning) Robin played the guitar and in his later ones (Panikattack, Bombardment and now Shitcontrol) he's playing the bass. I wonder if coming from guitars make it easier to experiment or if he's just gifted, either way it's really cool.

But Shitcontrol isn't just bass, they're not a Seinfield intro. So let's take a look at the other members, starting with drummer Calle. He also has a past in Bombardment and Panikattack (the trio Robin, Calle and Hasse have actually been playing together for years in a few different projects at this point), and his track record stretches all the way back to Discontrol in the 90's so he's been playing d-beat for almost three decades. And it shows, the unrelenting pummeling coming from the back of the stage is as steady as it is grinding. I guess that's the result of also having played death metal (Usurpress) and grindcore (Regurgitated Innards), there's no shortage of practice!

Hasse is no spring chicken either, with his first appearance in the country bands Börge Ring (as organist) and Tunnby-Bälgarna (as lyrics writer) in the late 70's and early 80's. I kid of course, but he's listed as such on Discogs and haven't corrected it so let's all assume this is true and Hasse is an old organist turned punk. He does have a past in other genres though, namely as a guitar player in Die Hard (death metal) and lately Third Storm (black metal). This means he's no stranger to creating an impenetrable wall of distorted riffs and having played together with Calle and Robin for several years now they've really merged into a unit that steadily churns out music.

And that brings us to Magnus, who handled the vocals in Panikattack (well, and Återfall, Scavengers Circle, Döda Ögon and even Warmachine in the 90's) and now does so in Shitcontrol, solidifying the claim that this really is Panikattack but with a new name. And I must say I really appreciate his style of vocals. It's this sort of screaming that's not trying to be macho or fancy. It isn't a "trained singers effort". It's pure screaming that sometimes stumbles a bit and sometimes is out of air, bringing a feeling of authenticity. And I think that's exactly what Shitcontrol need (not the authenticity part, they've got that covered), a somewhat "unpredictable" element. Don't get me wrong, Magnus is sticking to the lyrics, I mean the vocals are adding a raw dimension to the formula that really gets me going.

Speaking of lyrics, I said earlier that there were none to find on the j-card, but Magnus was kind enough to send me his "cheat sheet" so I could make an assessment on them as well. The topics are what is says on the tin, really. They're about capitalism, war, pollution, life crises and terror attacks. No surprises when it comes to this genre, and I can't see any problem with that. Short and to the point, if it's käng, it's käng!

'Hungriga, frusna och lamslagna' is a truly great "debut" (at least under this name) tape that garnered my full attention from the second I heard the first sample and I'm looking forward to their future endeavors, which at the moment seem to be an EP and two split-LP's.

Shitcontrol - Hungriga, Frusna Och Lamslagna