‘Mörkahurn, Lästa dörrar, Skuggor viskar, Blicken ner, Bara rädsla, Väntar inget, Kameram glimmar, Skuggor stirrar’ (Rädsla) / ‘Dark corners, Locked doors, Shadows whisper, Eyes cast down, Only fear, Waiting for nothing, Cameras glint, Shadows stare’ (Fear)

Having paved the way with split EPs in collaboration with Fear Of Extinction and Varoitus, Utsatt now unleash their debut album, Gubbkäng (Old Man Käng).  As the title implies, the band comprise seasoned veterans of Swedish käng, including members of Exploatör, 3 Way Cum, and Verdict among others.

As you would expect with such a pedigree to call upon, Utsatt’s crust fuelled d-beat is handled with an unforgiving assurance.  The emphasis is on unrelenting mid-paced grooves, each track tautly sharpened into a ninety second eruption.  The bleakly raw riffage, locking in with the cymbal awash rhythm section, mirrors the darkness enveloping a society mired by design in fear, insecurity, and precarity.

Alongside the gruffly roared lead vocals, two guest dual vocalists – one harrowingly shrieked, the other desperately urgent – introduce a fiercely raucous dynamic to the barbarously primitive battery.   Personal stand outs are the barrelling velocity of the opener, Slå Tillbaka (Strike Back), the muscular intensity of Rädsla, and the viciously surging Utan Framtid (Without Future), with this latter track seeing all three vocalists plunged into a frenetically unhinged duel for supremacy.