YIH8TW – Kjells Bänk

Kjells Bänk is a punkband out of Skellefteå, Sweden and YIH8TW is the bands debut EP and it’s being released on Grönpeppar Records.

The EP kicks off with the title track (the title of the track is written out properly so that even us oldies can understand) and it’s full gas from the get go in a well written and pretty catchy track. Wait continues in more of a garage punk style, with less serious lyrics, but it’s a pretty fun song. It’s a pleasant surprise to hear that this is band that knows how to mix up the tempo and style between tracks. Don’t You Know varies tempo between verse and chorus in a nice way, where the verses has a sermon/spoken word quality before bursting in the chorus. Little Mary is the catchiest song of the album, and goes towards more of the rock end of the spectra, and is my favorite of the bunch. Lyrically it got some nice social commentary and coupled with the catchy melodies it’s a hit for me.

There are instances where the mix of tempo and style almost becomes a chock. The mix of lyrical themes from the trigger-warning lyrics in the verse of Karleksbekymmer (love troubles in English) and the very straightforward chorus in the same song is quite a jump, although effective to catch the listeners attention. The same happens when one goes from the suicidal outro-verse of that song and into the fast paced and forward Drink Piss or Die. That closing track might not be the lyrically most interesting song, as the title is the lyrics to be had there, but it sure got some energy.

It’s nice to hear that the band is able to pretty effortlessly go between Bad Religion-esque punkrock, more garage style punk, rock and almost Nirvana sounding grunge before closing out in more classic punk fashion. The band really sounds older than they are, and it’s also nice to hear some new and young punk written in English coming out from Sweden. YIH8TW has its moments and Kjells Bänk has written some songs on here that I’ll come back to.