Kamikatze / Disco Volante

Female-fronted fury!

This Chorus of One release splits two sharp Swedish punk acts that both happen to feature ladies at the helm, and both spit fiery blasts of short, fast and loud ferocity.

Kamikatze, according to Last.fm, is a “three piece Punkband from Sweden. They please serious Punkrock like it shoud be: loud, hard and fast.” Pretty good description, but unlike mine, they forgot “short.” And with the average song clocking in at around a minute and a half, Kamikatze wastes no time pounding out rapid-fire rhythms and obnoxious screeching shouts. While the music mostly melds together in a shrill heap of sonic aggression, Kamkatze’s strength is in their wit, with amusing songs like “Crap Is the Shit” and their droll take on the classic anarchist rallying cry with “No Dogs No Masters.” The 49-second “I Love Television” pummels forth with a near-blast beat tempo and gang chorus, while their cover of the Zodiac Killers' “Kamikatze Attack” with all its indecipherable yelps is the closest thing to melody on their side of the split.

Disco Volante is a little less spastic than Kamikatze, but not by much. The band seems to be going for a bit more of a horror-type theme on this split, with songs like “Burn in Hell,” “Slayer” and a cover of the classic Misfits tune “Children in Heat.” While the Misfits cover is probably their best contribution to the split, “Easy Target” is a somewhat catchy sloppy punk song and “No Regrets” features snazzy guitar leads layered under the superbly strained vocals of singer Lovisa.

While this split may be concise, it has the audio effect of a punch in the face. Actually, make that two punches in the face, delivered respectively courtesy of these exceptionally feral female-fronted punk bands.