Album review: Backengrillen – Backengrillen

Refused only played their final show last month, but vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, bassist Magnus Flagge and drummer David Sandström are evidently reluctant to put their feet up. Apparently their new outfit Backengrillen had their first rehearsal on a Thursday, played live the next night and then recorded this self-titled debut on the Saturday. One hopes they at least chilled on Sunday.

Mind you, such productivity is surely par for the course for the fourth point on this compass. Discogs lists 160 releases involving saxophone/flute player Mats Gustafsson, largely consisting of mind-blowing free jazz but not infrequently intersecting with rock via collabs with the likes of Sonic Youth, Italian experimentalists Zu and righteous Dutch punks The Ex.

What sort of racket are this lot, all residents of Umeå but from seemingly disparate musical worlds, likely to kick up? Judging by opener A Hate Inferior, the answer lies in blown-out riffs delivered in a creepy crawl, like an infinitely more violent version of The Cramps, or an undead Birthday Party rocking up at London’s hip avant-garde venue Café OTO. Meanwhile, at the other end of this raw record, Socialism Or Barbarism channels the ragged charge of both Fun House-era Stooges and their 21st century acolytes The Icarus Line.

Repeater II sounds closest to The Shape Of Punk To Come, albeit with needling guitars replaced by saxophone sleaze, while Dennis’s testifying vocal delivery and the slamming rhythm section mark familiar ground. Far more challenging are the exploratory title track and the doomy trudge of Dör För Långsamt (English translation: Dying Too Slowly), but bloody-mindedness is very much at the heart of this wild alliance. With a second record already in the pipeline, Backengrillen’s revolutionary spirit shows no sign of faltering.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: The Stooges, Refused, Maruja

Backengrillen is released on January 23 via Svart