Martyrdöd - List
Southern Lord
Crust Punk
10 songs ()
Release year: 2016
Official Myspace, Southern Lord
Reviewed by Alex
Album of the month

A few weeks ago I promised you a review of Martyrdod’s latest album List. For those of you who don’t know, or those who do not bother to check “other album reviews links” below, Martyrdod is one of Swedish premier crust punk bands and have been in existence for fifteen years. I have not been withMartyrdod throughout their rise to pre-eminence, an open admission, but after loving Elddop quite a bit I was on List like fly on butter or like fly on … less attractive substance.

What can I say? Whatever praise is heaped on List, it is deserved. Among all of the surging electric power, amond all of the D-beating, among deprived screams substituing for vocals stands this incredible feel for melodicism, these openly folk-inspired solos weaving constantly. List, if anything, is a crossover between punk nihilism and Swedish melodic death metal, all executed with a crushing guitar tone against the booming bottom end. List is a viewpoint of pessimistic self-abandonment, broken up with rare weird joyful moments (Wipeout), and this viewpoint will leave you bruised and battered by the time it is over. The original 3-4 song fury is impressive, and by the time O ver pa ett stick rolls along you think it might be a reprieve, but a resounding “no” answer is given, not until the dissonant slowdown in the end. Harmagedon is sitting, as a squatty predatorial beast, thrashing inside its cage. Hand lost fallen angel is dramatic, almost tragic, and Intervention’s desperate seeking feel is best played driving along the stretch of the dark road, daring you to go three times legal limit. Martyrdod’s leads, of which every song has multiples, have a definitive “native” feel, sounding almost like a bagpipe on the title track.

As much as I liked List I did not and cannot be listening to it non-stop. The album just leaves my psyche and senses beaten up into a pulp, and I need the reprieve Martyrdod is not giving. One instrumental Dromtid, reminding me of In Flames Hargalaten from Lunar Strain, is plain not enough to withstand the fury. So I perused Martyrdod in short, but powerful, portions, listening to an album only once per day, putting it away for hours long stretches, only to maximize the impact when List hits again. Yet the urge to experience this surge is addictive, and the sheer number I kept coming back to the album for a fix is an evidence in and of itself of the List’s obvious draw. Plug in, but have your breaches screwed on tight.

Killing Songs :
List, Harmagedon, Hand lost fallen angel, Intervention
Alex quoted 90 / 100
Other albums by Martyrdöd that we have reviewed:
Martyrdöd - Hexhammaren reviewed by Alex and quoted 90 / 100
Martyrdöd - Elddop reviewed by Alex and quoted 88 / 100
Martyrdöd - Sekt reviewed by Charles and quoted 70 / 100
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