Nine

They started as a bunch of skate rats in Linköping who realized the Swedish D-beat scene was getting stale and needed a heavy injection of American hardcore groove. While the rest of the world was looking at Gothenburg for melodic death metal, Nine was busy figuring out how to make a HM-2 pedal sound like it was being played by Black Flag. They weren’t trying to be virtuosos; they were trying to be a blunt force instrument. By the time they hit the mid-2000s, the band had basically become a masterclass in how to survive the collapse of the ‘90s hardcore boom without turning into a joke. They moved from the crusty basement vibes of the early records into a polished, metallic crunch that didn’t sacrifice the spit and vinegar. It’s dirty, it’s Swedish, and it sounds like a bar fight in a scrapyard.

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