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Martyrdöd: Swedish Blackened Crustpunks Return in a 'Baptism of Fire'

A decade and five albums in and the Swedes are still slaying.

With over a decade under its belt, Gothenburg, Sweden-based Martyrdöd remains on the forefront of modern d-beat and crust. Featuring members of Skitsystem, Miasmal, and Agrimonia, among other local heavyweights, the quartet breaks the mold of classic Swedish hardcore, pushing its heavy, often politically-fueled rage into divergent territories from black metal to swaggering rock ‘n’ roll punctuated by searing double-guitar attacks. After a trio of increasingly virulent albums (including its staggeringly brutal 2009 album, Sekt), Martyrdod signed to Southern Lord Records where it upped its own ante with its acclaimed 2012 LP Paranoia, a caustic, urgent rallying cry condemning the rise of nationalism and racism they were witnessing in their home country and beyond.

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This summer, Martyrdöd has returned with a fifth album titled Elddop, which translates to “baptism of fire” in English. The record contains some of the band’s tightest, most audacious songwriting to date, matching the velocity and intensity of its predecessor while tempering some of its acerbic grit with haunting, enveloping emotion. Through its omnipresent lens of d-beat, blackened hardcore, and crust, the band flawlessly incorporates Swedish folk, death metal, and perhaps for the first time, pop—closing out the album with an arresting interpretation of “Under Skinnet,” written by and featuring the vocals of first wave Swedish punk songstress Kajsa Grytt (the track is available on CD and LP only, in case you need an extra excuse to snatch it up).

Elddop’s dynamic shifts and atmospheres are mirrored in guitarist/vocalist Mikael Kjellman’s lyrics, which stray from their usual political leanings into more intimate ground with subject matter loosely inspired by recent turbulence in his life and extracted into universally-relatable moods. Whether the creative process gave way to catharsis, or time does heals all wounds, now that the record is in the bag Kjellman has moved on to new things and is already excitedly plotting the next Martyrdöd album, which he hints will be a return to the band’s musical roots.

So, the future is sounding good (from a musical perspective, if not from world news) but Martyrdöd’s present state is pretty killer as well. The band just completed a European tour with metal/hardcore icons Converge and Norway’s blackened punk rockers Okkultokrati and announced a performance at Maryland Deathfest 2015 (more US dates pending). In a recent conversation, Kjellman shed some light on the band’s origins and progressions, the making of Elddop, and embracing positivity through one’s own “baptism of fire.”

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Noisey: A fifth album seems like a huge milestone for a band. Did you ever think you’d get to this point with this Martrydöd? How do you think the group has progressed over the many years of working together?Mikael Kjellman: Our songwriting has progressed, but we also have a standard for our style. I agree that it’s improved a little too. I know I have one more album coming, and that’s good because we have one more album for Southern Lord in our contract. For this band, something I discovered a couple of years ago is that it has its own life, almost. I write most of the songs, but there is a core; We have our background, and this standard, and what we do with that is something a little unusual within the framework of this hardcore, almost entrancing d-beat‒‒or “Swe-beat,” perhaps‒‒Swedish hardcore. On the last album, I wrote very political lyrics but this time around it was a personal release. It was more focused, spontaneous, and more of a relief.

There is something with this band and writing in the Swedish language. We included the translated lyrics with Paranoia because we had a very specific and distinct message against intolerance and against racism that is spreading in Europe and is really worrying us. This time I kept the original working titles of the songs and the original emotions, and I allowed myself to just express this.

Is this the first time you’ve approached songwriting this way rather than with a political focus?
Yes. The songwriting is the same in many ways, but this time around there’s not so much of a message behind many of the songs. These are songs of transformation. That’s one of the benefits and great things about songwriting. One can play with it. At times these songs might reflect something specific, but in translation it’s more of an emotion language than ever before. You can see the vocals as almost an instrument, if that makes sense. Everyone can relate to those emotions, and that’s my hope. I’m not bothered by a bit of irony of life, or sad or desperate stuff. It’s euphoric. It might sound like things are worse than ever, but this is really the best. It was like heaven being in the studio and blasting the songs for the first time.

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You mentioned the word “transformation.” Was this record very different or difficult to put together compared to the last one?
With Paranoia, I appreciated that people were coming up to me and were talking about the emotional undercurrent in the music. Perhaps it’s different this time around. I came at it from a certain background, and this is what came out of me. Things happened [in my life], but I ended up having lots of songs for Elddop, and it was good to have recorded them. As always, we’re always in danger, or near the edge.

Being politically near the edge or talking about these big issues might be different than being on the edge in your own life and exposing that to people.
There is a difference. It is harder for me to talk about some subjects and put them in words, but when it comes to music I can formulate some of it. There are variations on Elddop too, some political themes about being pissed off about healthcare and stuff. But one could say it’s like a personal war. I think this album lets you have your own personal “baptism of fire.” It’s a more open record and I like to keep it that way.

I wondered about the title. The term “baptism of fire” can have many different meanings.
Yes. The songs were written when I was in a lot of heartache and experiencing that separation and loss, but the title and lyrics are essentially positive. It’s writing my own destiny, somehow. There is a vibrant life force, and I think that deals with the title too. The artwork this time around was also focused around it.

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One thing Martyrdöd is known for is this rapidfire interplay between the guitars. How has that come about, and how playing together with Pontus [Redig] for so many years affected your songwriting?
Pontus is a precious person to have in the band in many ways. We were all friends before, actually, so it made sense. We bonded about music around the bonfire at these crusty campfire tent parties, hiking in the woods and listening to G-Anx and ABC Diabolo, and things like this. He can lead the interplay, as you say, he can copy my style, he can play phenomenally, and enhance the songs. He is mindful and has a talent for listening and for music. We’ve had a longstanding relationship for many years now, me and him. It works, with Jens [Bäckelin, drummmer] also. It’s sort of primal—it works without speaking.

Everyone in the band also plays in other bands. Perhaps this can be a bad factor for some, but for us, it works and it makes the musicians happier too. Pontus has his outlets like Miasmal and Agrimonia. On the latest record, we’ve found a really good bass player, Fredrik Reinedahl, a Swedish producer who has produced Sólstafir and Burst.

I was really shocked to hear the hidden cover song at the end of the new record. Can you tell me a little about how you decided to use that song, and how you ended up working with Kajsa Grytt?
Yeah. I was surprised she asked us. Perplexed, actually. At first, I was like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” and then I asked her, “Do you really want to do this with Martyrdöd?” and she said, “Of course!” She’s from the first wave of Swedish punk, but since then, she’s grown and she’s done a lot of different stuff. When she sent me her new album I was like, “What does she want?” because all of the songs seemed so unlikely for us to cover. Then the last song was this ballad about her separation, probably from her Swedish rock star poet husband or something. It was in this mood that we could use easily. She sent over all the individual tracks. We just used the vocal parts, and I was thinking, perhaps we could do a trance.

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The song grew on me. It was supposed to be on this tribute album with a few other Swedish artists. It was very unusual. It wasn’t supposed to be included on this album, but as a bonus track it makes sense somehow. It really nails it, because of the lyrics. It’s almost a refined version of where the other songs came from. I hope she likes it. She told us she loved it, but I’m not sure. The production was done last year, and we did it ourselves.

So the original tribute album never came together?
That’s right. It hasn’t so far. I think if this production was going to come out it would have been out already, but she actually gave us the rights to use it as part of the agreement. I liked this song. It’s actually a little similar to the last song on Paranoia, I’m not sure if you noticed that. I thought about how we could relate to it musically and how we could include all the parts of Martyrdöd and our idea of Swedish hardcore that comes from Anti Cimex and stuff like that. So “Under Skinnet” sounds a lot like the last song on Paranoia but with this symphonic edge. The song was not recorded by metronome. It’s very loose, so we had to stretch it a little. It was an experiment. It could come out on its own, but we’ll see.

When some bands make a turn in their music, it’s very distinct, but with Elddop, some of the changes are more subtle, so it sounds like little surprises when you listen through the record.
But our sound has been there from the start, because really, it came from Swedish hardcore. I want to go back on the sixth album, back to the first album, almost. If you listen to the albums, our sound has always been there in parts. I’d hate to feel that people would have gotten something other than this Martyrdöd sound. I wouldn’t incorporate any other stuff. Do you think you can hear that the songs are related?

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That’s what I was saying, your sound is so strong, it seems like you’ve woven these things into what you already do.
It seems to work, somehow. It has its own life, almost. The songs are all related but the best parts usually come very quickly, like a flash. They are very direct, and then it’s just about how to take them out on guitar. Being a mostly self-taught guitarist, I guess sometimes these things happen more by chance. Swedish hardcore has one thing; It’s a great background to have. You’re never too old for it. It can always be there. We challenge it a little and incorporate some of our own style, but we always make it work.

Jamie Ludwig is on Twitter - @unlistenmusic

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