Swedish hardcore band First In Line has spent the last 30 years building a reputation for raw, no-frills energy, and their latest release, Connect the Dots, cements that legacy. Today, we’re stoked to give you a special track by track rundown, with a new video premiere below!
Featuring 19 tracks, the album serves as a retrospective and a modern commentary, blending nine new songs with ten re-recorded older tracks that deserved another moment in the spotlight.
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Ulf Blomberg at South Sound studio, and released through Lövely Records, this is a record that not only revisits the past but also screams for change in the present.
Formed as Prehistoric in 1988, the band’s origins were deeply rooted in the desire to play American hardcore in a Swedish scene dominated by d-beat and kängpunk.
By 1995, they had rebranded as First In Line and, through decades of lineup changes, temporary disbandment, and eventual resurgence, maintained a focus on fast, angry, and purposeful music. Their return to form in 2008 brought new energy and a string of releases, including In the Land of Filth and Honey, We Are Watching, and Wake Up!, all of which set the stage for Connect the Dots.
The band’s ethos is built on challenging societal norms and confronting injustice.
As they put it, “F.I.L are so pissed off at all injustice and stupidity, we have to get it out of our heads and into the songs that we hope will hit right in the heart of you who listen, who can turn up the will to fight and maybe also be a tiny cog in a machinery that can change the world.” The new material dives deep into political, social, and personal frustrations—all delivered with the urgency and aggression that hardcore demands.
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Tracks like “What?” take aim at the dangers of organized religion, labeling it as a timeless poison responsible for countless conflicts. “Cookies and Cream” uses allegory to critique the exploitation of ordinary people by those in power. Songs like “Comparing Dicks” and “Connect the Dots” explore the toxic aspects of patriarchy and social media, while “First Failure” and “For the Future” emphasize resilience and collective action.
The re-recorded tracks, spanning from 1995 to 2012, show a consistency in the band’s messaging—a refusal to compromise on their values or soften their sound.
The album’s artwork, crafted by Mikael ‘Hammar’ Hammarberg, reflects the band’s lyrical themes. Mikael read the lyrics before creating the visuals, ensuring they complemented the record’s tone. As the band notes, “We love him and his work, so when we were told the album could be for real, we did not hesitate to ask him.”
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First In Line’s perspective on their hometown of Linköping offers valuable insight into the Swedish hardcore scene.
“Linköping was big in those days, we had shows every week and people turned ut from all around. Big bands like Scream, Fugazi, Descendents, CIV, Shelter came by and local acts were always given a chance to play those shows.” – they say.
“When our place Skylten stopped being independent the shows pretty much died out and the once that played dod so on local pubs where kids were not allowed so we lost a few generations. Nowadays the scene thrives again, mainly due to a new generation of bands and to Dunderjorden putting up all ages shows again.
The band highlights several notable acts from their scene.
“There are other bands from Linköping worth mentioning, like Nowheres, The Second Act and Viggen. Half of Alarm! is from Linköping, and out of town there are bands like Akimbo, Moralpanik, Modern Guilt, Nukies, Bulls shitt and Sharp Tongues. The scene is strong, and growing, happy times!”
First In Line is eager to bring their live energy to audiences once again. “We haven’t had too many shows the last few years, and we want to change that. So, if you book shows and want us, just let us know. If you don’t book shows and want us, start booking shows, or tell someone who does.”
The full track-by-track commentary on Connect the Dots is available below, offering deeper insight into each song’s meaning and message.
What?
Religion is the same poison of the mind today as it always has been, the biggest reason for war and we hate it. How can a sane mind actually believe in fictional beings controlling and dictating our lives
Cookies and Cream
It’s an allegory on the common man eating poisoned ice cream supplied by those in power, being political, financial or religious.
Comparing Dicks
How stupid, and boring, can two dudes be trying to measure who has the biggest dong? In the bigger picture patriarchy works in just the same way, world leaders trying to flex their muscles in a fight for domination.
Loudmouth
When social media and media in general favors those who scream the loudest facts and knowledge becomes secondary.
Connect the Dots
SoMe is a playing ground for hate designed to make us lose ourselves scrolling through feeds filled with utter shit in search for that one golden clip we desire like nothing else.
First Failure
There is always a first failure, followed by a second and a third. But by the thousenth we might notice failure could be a good thing, something to learn by and that our failures doesn’t define us.
For the Future
This is our manifesto for fighting what is wrong with society, the greed, the individualism, the fear, the hate. If we do it, always, together, by all means necessary, there will be change, there will be solidarity, there will be equity, there will be love.
Open Minded Oppenheimer
Big brains do not necessarily do good and if the aim is good, things can still turn to shit if left in the wrong hands. We’re closer to the nuclear threat of the 80’s, and we do remember that threat, than we have been in a long time, just by letting imaginary big brains rule.
Rebel Heart
We can’t do it alone, together is the key.
Oldies spanning from 1995 to 2012’ish
Inbred
When the monetary powers impregnate the political powers, their child is an abomination of greed. But it can be fixed, just light the torch.
Prove My Point
When the major motivation for making sense of the state the world is in is fear, we make few, if any, good decisions, and argument will be pointless. If combined with silencing the few, or many, who speaks up the only tool left is action.
Work Ethics
Is there a manual for the labor force developed by the employers? Sure is, but we don’t have to follow it, in fact we need to brake the last undemocratic bastion.
Jazz It
If media says there are chemtrail, the many will see chemtrails, and if birds are falling from the sky there sure will be supernatural causes, or will there?
It’s hard to tell fact checking media from any show displayed by trash tv, and when the big media houses drift away from the journalistic principles, the border between false and true is blurred out completely.
Rich
Being part of the work force, forced to work for someone else’s profit, not okay, not now, not ever. Greed is not the goal.
Büttfücker
How come the hardcore scene, originated from the punk weirdos, androgynous kids in bondage, is so fuckin macho today. It sucks, we hate macho!
Provoked
We can only be pushed so far before we snap, and you don’t want that, but maybe we do after all…
B&W
The world is not black and white, no matter how hard they try to convince us their truth is the only truth, there is always more to the conclusion.
Good Friends
True friendship is to be valued, and true friendship is without ulterior motive, it’s just for the sake of friendship. We are friends, we want to be friends with everyone, we love our friends.
Not One Step Back
The idea that a different world is possible is not the idea of the youth alone, it’s what we believe after having wrestled with ideologies and philosophers ideas back and forth for years – we still stand strong in the belief that it’s democracy, equality, freedom and love that binds us.