12 O’Clock Track: Danish D-beat on Halshug’s “Skyd Eller Dø”

When Reader music editor Philip Montoro sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks back simply titled “A bit of Danish D-beat for free,” I figured my tastes would agree with the Bandcamp link inside. Working with me for six years, Philip has gotten more than a tad accustomed to my likes and dislikes—making an elaborate explanation unnecessary. And Halshug very much fit into the “likes” category. Today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “Skyd Eller Dø,” comes from the threesome’s four-song EP Dödskontrol, which dropped last year on D-Takt & Råpunk Records. The track is towering and destructive, with an unrelenting tempo that remains tight even at its most blazing. It’s easy to say “no frills” with a band like Halshug—which, translated, is the imperative of halshugge, which means to behead or decapitate—but there’s not much more to it than what’s blasting from your headphones. The band describes itself as “raw hardcore from Copenhagen.” Sometimes that’s all you need.