‘Un carton dans les mains, Personne ne retient ton regard, L’indifférence devient ton quotidien’ (Un Carton Dans Les Mains) ‘A cardboard box in your hands, Nobody holds your gaze, Indifference becomes your daily life’ (A Cardboard Box In Your Hands)

Deletär hail from St Etienne and feature members of Bleakness, Bombardment, and Litige.  This is their second self-titled full-length, and follow-up to their 2019 debut.  The band continue to take their cues from classic Swedish hardcore and to mould them into something rather unique to themselves.  The result is absolutely unrelenting yet also thoroughly well-crafted and satisfyingly nuanced.

Their onslaught is centred around wave upon wave of fierce riffage, the lead guitars unleashing searing solos from every direction.  Meanwhile, the gruff French vocals and the utterly bruising rhythm section lock-in together, with the infectious shout along choruses injecting a decidedly boisterous energy.  And everything hits home with a striking velocity that is perfectly captured by the surging Pandémonium and rampaging Il Ne Reste Qu’une Ombre (Only A Shadow Remains).

The lyrical concerns match this musical intensity as they grapple with themes of social inequality (Un Carton Dans Les Mains / A Cardboard Box In The Hands), colonial legacies (Vaterland), democratic deficits (Pandémonium), and climatic collapse (Échec / Failure).