If ever there was any uncertainty about what Copenhagen’s Halshug are all about, direct yourself to their debut EP from 2013, Dödskontrol. Not only did they conform to emblematic tropes of Scandinavian crust with a black and white cover and some derivation of ‘dod’ in its title, the release was issued by D-Beat & Raw Punk Records.
Just in case you had any trepidation that this trio was daring to skirt off the beaten path. And herein lies the rub with Blodets Bånd: it’s perfectly serviceable d-beat/crust with an (un)healthy obsession with apocalyptic themes backed by snappy, overdriven riffs, an echo-y vocal bellow and that drum beat.
However, there’s nothing that stops them from being slotted in alongside other solid, but unspectacular, d-beaters. Halshug are in the same league as Oiltanker, Dishammer, Nuclear Death Terror and other bands that are competent and look and sound the part, but aren’t the first out of the gate when it comes to listing off the genre’s leaders or sating a ‘bupp-u-dupp-bupp’ fix./o:p
