Satanic Surfers are a punk band from Sweden who garnered much attention in their home country and across the world for their frenetically paced "surf/skate" punk. Much of their releases have been released on Europe's Burning Heart Records, which is distributed in North America by Epitaph Records. The group is perhaps best known for the fact that their drummer is their singer (unfortunately).
After leaving Burning Heart earlier this year, though, the band has re-established itself in the punk rock scene with their finest record yet, Fragments and Fractions. The record is a blistering thirteen tracks that clock in at just over twenty-six minutes, but it's a blissful twenty-six minutes. The Surfers have an unusual, almost distant sound to the instruments on this record, which serves to bring the vocals of singer/drummer Rodrigo to the forefront, yet blend them in at the same time. The songs cover typically punk rock subjects: the evil of television ("Submission"), the evil of large companies and industries ("Pulling The Strings"), the evils of radio ("When Was The Last Timeâ¦), and the evil of disassociating oneself from the problems of the world ("Throw In The Towel"). The lyrics strike chords, and the chords the band strikes are wonderful. The capper of the album, though, is the final song, "The Bass Song", which is a lovely instrumental tune. The Surfers also show off their clever sense of humour by listing the fourteenth song as "The Lost Song." The jokes on us though, since there is only thirteen tracks.