Norwegian Leather

I'm not pretending to be an expert of HC from Norway. I'm not ashamed to admit that, until 5 years ago, my fave band from that frozen and rich country was Mayhem. Of course I've had already heard praises about the NOHC scene of the 80s', but for some reasons I didn't find the time to dig into it. Then, after reading about it in some forum,  I've decided  it was about time to explore it. Allah bless the internet.

2011 has been a great years for represses. Expecially when it comes to norwegian hardcore. Indeed, after the repress of the Svart Framtid "1984" ep that came out few months ago, now the long delayed Bannlyst official "diskografi" lp finally saw the light after way too many years of delays. Say thanx to Norwegian Leather (a sub-label of Heartfirst, specialized in repressing 80s' norwegian hc classics). Of course it made sense to add to my order also a copy of the So Much Hate "how we feel" lp since it was repressed too from the same label back in 2007.

Bannlyst were one of norway's finest. They played your typical scandinavian brutal hardcore not too dissimilar to some of their swedish contemporaneous like Skitslickers or Anti Cimex. Same brutal sound and guttural vocals but with more original song writing. This lp compiles not only the recently bootleged "La Dem Ikke Lure Deg" 7" but also their material from legendary split tape with Angor Wat as well as a song from the cult compilation "Nå Eller Aldri"  (another record I hope Flo will repress soon) and another cover of "Louie Louie" (it's amazing how many punk/hc bands have done it over the last 30 years!). It comes with a fold out insert with lyrics, photos and a detailed discography.  Norwegian Leather also put out a Bannlyst live lp but since I'm not into live recording, I've decided to save my money for something else.

SMH seems to have taken their main influences from US hardcore. They remind me a weird EU version of Die Kreuzen meets mid period Black Flag. Lots of dissonant riffs, weird vocals and a bit of metal (in a good way)  makes this one of the most personal yet classic hardcore release that came out of europe in the eighties. Great artwork too, the back cover has a pic of some punks beating the shit out of a cop! It comes with a 8 pages zine with pics, old reviews and interviews etc...I'd have been great if they did the same with the Bannlyst lp.

To all norwegian readers: I'm really concerned about your recent butter shortage, so if you wanna trade your OG X-Port Plater records for some fine italian butter, drop me a line.