Released June 6th on Reptilian Records, Trauma Cake marks the first proper full-length from Swedish noise rock trio Bacon Wagon. While the band has existed in various forms since 2003—rising from the ashes of Acid Ape and sharing early splits with Instrumen and Baltimore’s Dactyl—they’ve only now followed through on a full LP.
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Oliver Dahl at Studio Quaalude and pressed on translucent blue vinyl with custard and hot pink splatter, Trauma Cake is noisy, punchy, and seasoned with years of detours, hiatuses, and side projects.
The album barrels through ten tracks that mix distorted punk energy with sludgy weight, fusing ’90s AmRep vibes with Swedish sarcasm. It’s dirty, raw, and self-aware. As Everything Is Noise puts it, the sound balances “brash, punchy punk riffs with an undercurrent of doomy trudge, tons of groove, and feedback aplenty.”
Frontman Marcus Kinberg calls it “the slap in the face you never had but deserved,” adding: “Enjoy the Trauma Cake: Three Swedes, lots of distortion, ‘deep’ lyrics, multidimensional aura, adult oriented! Like a breeze of filthy fresh air.”
There’s no single overarching lyrical theme here—just glimpses into strange realities, mundane brutality, and absurd truths. Marcus and Kristoffer Kinberg, along with drummer Peter Johansson, serve it up straight: bitter, occasionally absurd, and laced with trauma, but never melodramatic. The album feels personal without being confessional, direct without trying to prove anything.
Trauma Cake reports on what’s been done, what went wrong, and what might still hurt. It’s sweat, distortion, and a little humor mixed into one loud, sarcastic record. The band has already played a pair of release shows and is set to perform at Dimman Musikfest in Öland this August.
For those drawn to feedback, grit, and twisted realism delivered with no posturing, Trauma Cake is exactly what it says it is. Check out the band’s first hand track by track rundown below.
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Tar Salad
One of the faster songs. We wanted to have minimal use of vocals and text. Let the instruments do the work: full throttle. Great way to start the trauma!
A Voodoo That Actually Works
It’s pretty much a straightforward rock tune that we wanted to keep pretty simple. The lyrics are about manipulative people; not much more to say really about it.
Lady Cramps
A slower and repetitive song with a nice vocal effect we’re both of Marcus and Kristoffer sing simultaneously all throughout the song. (Peter joins in on the screaming). The lyrics come from a collection of having weird bad dreams.
Hyaena Hyaena
Using dissonance distortion in a wagging tempo for this one really worked out. It’s partly about a wife that slowly poisoned her husband by putting lye in his coffee (true story).
Gauntlet
A fast song about being thirsty and miserable. We tried to make a tribute to Paul Leary with the lead guitar in the end.
Honey! (I’m Home)
Our version of a classic Flipper song. If you have a good riff, why not use it for the whole song? It’s inspired by “wilderness therapy” where troubled teenagers spend time in the wilderness. In some cases, people died out there! True story…
Love Blister
A chaotic song with lots of words in it, not sure what it’s about? We used some words from Jeff Bigg from the band Faking when he described our music. Thanks Jeff!
I-Beam
A song about accidents from work and recovering from them. It’s partly about an old work colleague that hit his head on a steel beam and had a stroke from the hit. Ended up being paralyzed… All band members are craftsmen and have had our share of work-related mishaps that are baked in the lyrics. Other than that, it’s a mid-tempo song with slow trailing riffs. This song has additional cheerleading vocals by Kristoffer’s daughter, Elsa. Enjoy the feeling of getting hurt!
Brown Gravy
The typical Swedish dish: meatballs with brown gravy. Served with an annoying guitar riff. The lyrics are somewhat about being a time optimistic person who in the end usually ruins everything by being a typical fuck-up.
Bear Of A Man
Marcus did this one. low, slow and heavy! Lovely. We used extra tom toms for the last part of the song and added more distortion. A perfect wrap up!
