Makthaverskan, the Swedish post-punk band with a horns-up-worthy name that loosely translates to "powerful woman," is adept at mixing sweetness with spit. Where 2013's striking album Makthaverskan II gave the genre a kick in the teeth with searing honesty about sick hearts and scummy ex-lovers, in the new 7" single "Witness," vocalist Maja Milner wants to bury her enemy.
"Witness" signals the band at its most sonically harrowing and lyrically direct. Coming out of out a drum intro that screams '80s metal arena show instead of a punk basement, that spindly riff sure is a sinister play on "Paint It Black" if I ever heard one, smothered by cavernous production. In an urgent revenge fantasy, Maja Milner unsettlingly coos, "I'll make you beg for mercy / Oh, the fear in your eyes," later building to a demonic wail not unlike our southern lord King Diamond to declare, "My enemy, I bury you."
Witness comes out digitally on March 3, with physical copies hitting the U.S. on April 18 (a.k.a Record Store Day) via Run For Cover. Makthaverskan will have the 7" on its U.S. tour with Self Defense Family.
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