Not content with the tunes created over the previous couple of decades with previous band Victims, members turned to new pastures with the latest hardcore punk collective, Alarm! Crossing over the sounds of melodic hardcore with previous endeavours in crust punk, Alarm! are set to make an explosive hit onto the Swedish punk scene with their debut self-titled effort via Armageddon Label.

With tours already announced and a 9” equally on the horizon, the band are truly hitting the ground running.

“Into The Dark” kickstarts the album off at an alarming (pardon the pun) pace, kicking straight in with a thick bassline with dirty sounding guitars filling the areas. Vocalist Henrik Lindqvist bellows down the mic, it’s almost like what would happen if you crossed Cancer Bats and Henry Rollins-era Black Flag together. It’s punchy, it’s loud, and it’s just what any crowd needs to get a circle pit going right from the get-go. The drums for the initial song really act as the backbone, galloping in rhythm with the relentless guitar, Andy Henriksson clearly putting his all into it, whilst still clearly maintaining a level of intricacy amongst the unbridled fury of it all.

The album does not give one moment to let up, each song seeming like it’s pushing the members of the band to their limit. Specifically, in the track “Scare Game” Linqvsit sounds as if he’s only a second away from breaking his vocal chords, yet somehow never lets up once.

Ultimately, Alarm! aren’t breaking any barriers in music or reinventing the wheel, but the blatant passion shown through their performances throughout the release demonstrates far more than any reinvention of music ever could. Ending on the sub-one minute track “Never Again,” the band somehow go even harder on themselves and create one of the heaviest punk songs this year, before just abruptly cutting out.

If you are to see any new punk bands live, Alarm! will be the one to go out of your way to see if you want to have a good time. With the amount of energy and chaos thrown in together on just the recorded album alone, the live version will surpass this tenfold. The true love for their craft and determination to put out one of the most exhilarating punk records of the 2020s shines through from the very start. Check this band out.

Buy the album here:
https://armageddonlabel.bandcamp.com/album/alarm

8 / 10
CHARLIE HILL