Recorded, mixed and self-produced at the Speedball Studios in Karlstad, Sweden last year, the newest record from crusty grind hardcore punk band VÅLDSAMT MOTSTÅND has been finally unleashed in its full unholy glory. The wild pack stays true to the classic sound of blistering, crust-infused grind hardcore, spiced up by vicious riffs, and unrelenting drumming. We caught up with the band’s guitarist Micke to get some more details on the concept of the record and break down every single track of the record. See below.
Asked about the general concept and work flow behind the record, Micke commented:
The general idea of recording and releasing an album had been with us for quite a while. Our latest release before this album was the EP that we released in 2014. Some of the songs on The Great Equalizer had been part of our live-set for several years. Other songs were ideas that we were working on and that were made to finished songs just previous to the recording of the album. The decision to start recording came when our drummer Emil declared that he no longer wanted to be part of the band, which forced us to sit down and discuss what we wanted to do. We decided to start working on the album. We contacted Micke Jörstad and asked him if he was willing to do the drums for the whole album, which he was. He actually recorded all the drums in one day, which is pretty impressive by my standards.
Continued below…
Track by Track feature:
Pig Parade is a song that we have played live for some time. We all like to play it and it is a great song to start off with both live and on a record. The main-riff is kind of 60’s surf-rock inspired, if you know what I mean. The lyrics are about the rise of neo-facism in general and in Sweden in particular.
Jihad Eyes had also been with us for a while. On the album he song is played faster than it originally was. We didn’t want Micke Jörstad to sort of copy Emil’s drumming or to play from our instructions but rather to put his own mark on the songs. That’s why the song is faster, and better if you ask me, on the album.
The Great Equalizer is the title track and also a song that we have been playing live for some time. This song also turned out a bit faster than we usually played it, which in my opinion made it even better than before. The lyrics are a sort of nihilistic reflection of live and death.
I am Nothing is the newest song from our live-set. It has some really nice guitar-parts which are great fun to play. The lyrics are written from a kind of Bundy/Ramirez/Berkowitz serial-killer point of view.
Kill Me, I’m a Liberal is a song that we’ve played live for some time. The opening/main-riff is inspired by The Pack and their songs. The lyrics are written from the point of view of a person who claims to be a liberal but actually is a reactionary.
Watch Your Back was made just before recording. We had a general idea of how the song was going to be and we had tried to play it in different speeds and with some variations i the riffs before we decided what was the best. Bass-player Devan wrote the lyrics in the studio just before recording the vocals. The lyrics are about paranoia.
Interlude was made from a bass-line that Devan came up with. I thought it had a Joy Division-vibe to it so I wanted the guitars to sort of match that. We first thought of it as an intro to some other song but after recording it we thought it was strong enough to stand for itself. It’s an instrumental tune and it has got some acoustic guitars in it. I think it turned out real nice.
Moses is something of a monster. It just grew from some ideas at rehearsals and it wouldn’t stop growing. It’s longer than most of our other songs. It has different parts. It has lyrics that refers to religion and the meaning of life and existence in general. It’s heavy, both musically and lyricwise. I like it a lot.
I am the Market is one of those songs that sort of just pops up when you sit around with the guitar and don’t know what to play really. It almost plays itself. The lyrics are about different aspects of the free market economy.
Fuck Your Scene is a song that we had been working on for some time. It is a black metal-inspired song that starts of quite hard and heavy but changes and becomes more ambient. We thought it lacked something and that’s where the idea of having the hurdy gurdy in it came from. We decided that we wanted something diffrent like a violin or such in the song but none of us can play the violin, so we asked people we know and who are playing folk-music. To make a long story short, we finally got in contact with Rino Rotevatn and asked him if he could do something on hurdy gurdy on the song. The result is in my opinion amazing. Rino and his hurdy gurdy gives the song a whole new dimension. The lyrics are about how a scene (no scene in particular but most scenes really) limit those within it and excludes everybody else.
Dying of the Light is a variation of one of the riffs to Watch Your Back. Devan and I re-arranged it a bit and made a song from it. The lyrics are inspired by the poem Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas, and is about that it is never too late.>
