Halshug – “Sort Sind” [Album Review]

Danish hardcore punks Halshug, judging them on their promo photo, look like they’d be right at home kicking the shit out of you on the terraces on a Saturday afternoon. Put on their new album Sort Sind and, unsurprisingly, what you get when you is a short, sharp, nasty blast of hardcore punk.

Whereas some bands describe their sound as real and “from the streets”, at no point during Sort Sind do you ever doubt the Scandinavians’ authenticity. Every moment of this album sounds like it has been inspired by a tough-as-fuck life. It’s gritty, bloody and dark-as-fuck with tracks like “Nederlag” being delivered in a truly unpleasant fashion. Mid-paced punk from the Scandinavian underground never sounded as unpleasant and with track names translating into “Scum” and “Lonesome Death”, there is absolutely no joy contained in the grooves of this depressing slab of anger so, be warned, don’t expect to come away from this in a good mood.

Halshug play the kind of angry, disturbing music that you feel in every nerve ending and, with the experience of listening to Sort Sind comes a sense of needing to scrub yourself clean at the end. The hardcore genre as a whole has many offshoots from emo to pop-punk to skater. Halshug? Well, on the evidence of Sort Sind, they share the same space as your worst nightmares.

Sort Sind Track Listing:

01. Sort Sind
02. Indre Frængsel
03. Udskud
04. Vold
05. Mørket Falder
06. Helvede
07. Vanvid
08. Nederlag
09. Ensom Død

Run Time: 23:39
Release Date: September 30, 2016

Check out the track “Udskud”