Swankers

Swankers P.M.S. were a young bunch of Swedish punkers that managed to eke out one excellent EP called Anti-Oi before calling it quits. For taking such a fervent stance against Oi, Swankers P.M.S. played a somewhat '77 style Oi punk (notice the '77 on the cover.) Not the blistering hardcore assault of Avskum, Anti-Cimex, or Antisocial, but still a great piece of Svenne rebellion from the way back.

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Shakespeare

Shakespeare were from the bullshit town of Eskilstuna Sweden known mostly for stainless steel and handball. You know the drill, these Svenne youth release one fucking amazing single, fail to rocket to superstardom, and go back to working at the Volvo factory. Meanwhile an incredible record drifts further and further away into legend.

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Pyramid

Duuuude. Here's some home-grown Swedish progressive hard rock from a band called Pyramid. Most notably, Pyramid was the first working band of future Silver Mountain frontman Christer Mentzer. First Stone is a solid (if not a bit goofy) album that kind of reminds me of Uriah Heep with a horn section, Mentzer is a ringer for David Byron. This is by no means Demons and Wizards, and Pyramid venture into some really cornball territory at times, but that doesn't ruin it for me. This is an excellent summertime wizard bong album, or even a snowed in wizard bong album if you desire.

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Splatter Punk

Splatter Punx on Acid collects the entire discography of Swedish prettyboy metallic hardcore band Black Uniforms. I remember being kind of down on these dudes back in the day because of their corny image, but that aside, these guys hit upon something great at times. Their flirtations with metal seemed a bit more informed than Discharge's or Broken Bones', The Uniforms were at their best when they ventured into the more speed metal realm of their material, sometimes they remind me of a more haphazard Onslaught. Great hair.

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Pray For Metal

Never mind the crazy cover art depicting a topless barbarian princess holding a weird axe in one hand, and precariously balancing a skull in the other while she dances seductively in front of a giant Menorah. There is so much more to this album than all that, well maybe not. You do, however, get four pretty rocking Heavy Metal anthems delivered somewhat sloppily by some spirited lads from Linkoping, a bullshit town known for volleyball and making Saabs.

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Torsten

Fuck yeah Torsten. By now you should know the deal. Torsten, a hopeful young Swedish Heavy Metal band from the bullshit town of Loddekopinge, releases one great single, and then fades into obscurity. The singer sounds kind of punk as he sings about how he is "the best" on the a side "King of the Nest." The b side, "Are You Ready" is a balls-out rocking call to arms. The two tunes here are excellent, spirited, and just plain cool rocking Heavy Metal numbers. Like most of these one-off FWOSHM singles, this is more fun than you should probably be allowed.

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Bloodchilling Tales

Formed in 1986, Sorcery were one of the earliest Swedish Death Metal bands on the scene. Their demo beginnings were a bit more thrash, but by the time they eked out their stellar debut, 1991's Bloodchilling Tales, it was all about the Death Metal. Sadly, this would be Sorcery's only album. Around 1994 Sorcery split and the members went on to form two bands; In Aeternum and Fear My Solitude, neither of which were very interesting, in my opinion. Whatever, this rules.

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Gypsy

I imagine there were abut a million bands calling themselves Gypsy in the '80s but this post is about a young band of Swedish hopefuls who managed just one single in their time, but what a record it is. "Explosive Hangover" starts with a mournful acoustic guitar intro but soon jumps up to a mid-tempo rocker about waking up after a particularly drunken night. Our protagonist wakes to find a strange girl in his bed but not much else happens other than a clumsy guitar solo. "World War III" has a more 70s hard rock vibe, and fairly typical lyrics about the anxiety young people faced in the '80s around nuclear arms proliferation, a much more serious concern than waking up with some tramp you don't remember. So, Gypsy weren't all that good, but this record is a charmer, and at seven minutes, doesn't wear out it's welcome.

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Onyx

Here's a little scorcher of a Heavy Metal record from Sweden and a band called Onyx. These youngsters hailed from the blustery streets of Stockholm. They managed to crank out a demo and this brilliant EP before deciding that playing catchy melodic Heavy Metal was not where it's at. Onyx had chops and hooks for days and a couple of gems in guitarists Bjorn and Chris, but alas, this was not enough to rocket Onyx to any kind of real renown.

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Stormbringer

First off, this extremely rare demo has no cover so I arbitrarily chose a picture of Michael Moorcock's dour albino and the sword that ruled him, Stormbringer. Stormbringer, the band, hailed from the bullshit town of Karlshamn, a town best known for, well, nothing really. The band only released three demos in their short run, this one being the last. The material is doom influenced Swedish Heavy Metal but the ringer here is singer guy, Christian Nelson, who sounds like he has polished off a bit of Explorer in the studio. After the demise of Stormbringer the more tenacious members launched a new band called Faith, who were featured on this blog before. If you've come to love these Svenne Henne's teeth jewels of bygone Scandi-metal then I suggest you snatch this one up .

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Hail The Hetsheads

Hetsheads started their run as a jokey Swedish hardcore band in 1988 under the awesome moniker of Hetsheads with Hetsfaces and the Fuckfaces of Death, but much like Hearse favorites BLOOD, Hetsheads eventually decided to play the morbid Death Metal that was rising in popularity at the time and the clumsy name was shortened. Throughout the early '90s the band made a few recordings but only released one limited demo called Remonstrating the Preserver. In 1994 the band called it quits and some members went on to form the infinitely more polished Blackshine. In 1994 Repulse records stepped up and released this CD containing the demo and a few extra tracks. It's Swedish Death Metal, so you should already have a pretty firm understanding of what Hetsheads sound like, the shocker is that these kids were really fucking good. We Hail The Possessed holds it's own against some of the better known records of the genre. Blow the dust off this obscure relic of ancient Scandi-death and hail the Hetsheads.

Hail!

The Calling

I guess it was young Marcus Norman's calling to make Satanic Black/Doom/Death Metal as an entity known as Ancient Wisdom. Mr. Norman cut his fangs as a member of the early Swedish Black Metal band Throne of Ahaz. As the logo suggests, Ancient Wisdom was originally called Ancient but added the wisdom upon becoming aware of a Norwegian band also calling themselves Ancient. The Calling was released in 1997 and is the band's second, and best album. Not really Black Metal, not really Doom, not really traditional Heavy Metal, but managing to incorporate all those styles into the fold without sounding manic or confused. The songs and pedestrian Satanic atmosphere of The Calling are so damn delectable that the album can't even be marred by some pretty terrible tones. Another great album to play loud at your next party.

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Cortex

I have to thank my bandmate Jessica Way for pointing this one out to me. Cortex formed from the smoldering ashes of Swedish post punk outfit, Likit Lever, however Cortex went towards a darker schizo Death Rock direction. The band's debut album Spinal Injuries is pure black gold from start to finish. Oh, and I apologize for the lack of song titles. Maybe someone wants to post those in the comments.

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Empire Saint

Get a load of the foppish popinjays of Empire Saint, a long gone Heavy Metal act hailing from the bullshit town of Boras (like Hearse alum Lonely Hearts), a town known for mailorder businesses, sheep, and as one reader pointed out, hot Italian and Greek immigrant ladies. So I guess when these Svenne coxcombs weren't wooing flickas outside the textile mill, they set about to some premium panty-droppin' rockin'. The a side of Empire Saint's debut single is a pretty hokey monster ballad called "Broken Dreams," which I am sure secured these Scandi-dandies a boatload of top shelf tonfisk, but it runs a bit Cinderella for me. The b side, "Shout Out" is a pretty vanilla but enjoyable hard pop anthem that might enhance a montage of you taking the city the by storm with your own crew of overdressed peacock men. Empire Saint obviously had their eye on the prize, but sadly were eclipsed by a billion other bands with flashy striped pants and mediocre songs. Oh well.

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Achilleus

Achilleus were another obscure bunch of Swedish kids playing the ol' hard rock/heavy metal in the '80s. They hailed from the bullshit town of Jönköping, a town best known for matchsticks and Agnetha Fältskog, the blonde one from ABBA. The a-side, "Allt Vi Begar" is a bouncy synth-enhanced rocker that is more of an AOR type number that dabbles in some metalisms. The b-side "Obergs Praster" is a bit wimpier with a kind of dancey back beat and glassy eighties guitars. Clearly Achilleus wanted to rock their way out Jönköping with this bit of commercially viable, and somewhat tame single. Well, that didn't happen, obviously, but this cool little record was left behind in the attempt and that is not a bad thing at all.

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The Loud Dead

Despite having a history dating back to 1993 and almost a dozen releases, Sweden's Nastrond is not often talked about. The duo of Draugr and Arganas have comprised Nastrond from the start, their dedication to pure Black Metal is unparalleled, but still they remain fairly obscure. Toteslaut was their first album after a few demos and an EP. It was released in 1995 by Napalm Records. Sure, nothing here is as life-changing as say, Dissection or Abruptum, but definitely a thread in Sweden's kvlt BM history that should not be ignored.

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Birth & Death

Hels were another lost Swedish Heavy Metal act that released one fantastic 7" and then disappeared in to faint memory shortly afterin 1985. Hels hailed from the bullshit town of Oxelösund, a town best known for iron works and trains. The A-side, "Life," is a pretty standard fist banging Metal anthem, but the B-side, "Death," exhibits some classic doom tendencies. I can't get enough of these Swedish bands from the '80s.

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Oxiplegatz

Oxiplegatz was the work of Alf Svensson upon his defection from At The Gates in 1993. Alf set out to make avant-futurist black/death metal concept albums chronicling the struggles of alien races and pan-galactic warriors. In 1994 Alf self-released the first Oxiplegatz album, Fairytales, a quality hour of oddball metal, visionary and exciting from stem to stern.

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Lonely Hearts

Another stunning rare FWOSHM single from 1984. Lonely Hearts hailed from the bullshit town of Boras, a town known for sheep and mail order businesses. Unfortunately the band only managed to eke out this record before singer/bassist Christer Eriksson died at a rather young age. The a-side is a steely scorcher called simply "Lonely Heart," and while the b-side is a decidedly less rocking AOR number called "One More Night" it is still an enjoyable enough song. These kids had chops and pep, sad they never did more.

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Measureless

Measureless weren't the best (or best known) band to emerge from the extremely fertile Swedish death metal scene, but this demo, Abandoned to Die is still a great listen. If you have been riding the hearse for sometime you know roughly what to expect from these bored Scandinavian teenagers, however, Measureless wandered into some of the melodic territory of black metal (check out the track "Gory Incest.") Despite some obvious flaws in production and performance, this is one of the better unknown artifacts from the scene.

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