Bizarro World Björn Borg is sitting on his knees, and beside him a massive Bison is smiling with a grin that goes from ear to ear. In front of them their brothers of the South are roaring with approval. As the Bison goes back to his corner Bizarro World Björn Borg greets his followers: “Yes, my friends. It’s office in the front, but party in the back”. Raubtier’s frontman Hulkoff has had his hair cut by Edward Scissorhands and is now sporting the hairdo of champions. It’s glorious.

We are at Malmö’s Kulturbolaget, and it had been almost a year since the last time we had seen Raubtier live. They have always been great on stage, and a new album has hit the streets since last time so we were excited. And we were not disappointed.

The crowd at Kulturbolaget was about a 2/3 capacity, and it was clear that they had been waiting for Haparanda’s finest to come back. The band started out with the heavy artillery with Det Finns Bara Krig from their debut album, and got a great response from the crowd. The band was energetic, and it is always cool to see how much the band seems to enjoy being on stage. Hulkoff had no problem connecting with the crowd right away, and was rewarded by a healthy sing-along in the choruses. He might have skipped his warm-up today though, because his voice sounded a bit tired in the chorus, but it was still a strong opener.

After this classic hit they continued with Sveriges Elit from the new album. If there had been any doubt whether the crowd just wanted to hear the old stuff or not it got erased here. Everybody knew the lyrics, and wanted to prove it. A few songs into the set we started getting “Raubtier!!” chants between the songs. Hulkoff’s voice came back to its’ normal powerful self, and the first half hour of this show was simply bursting with energy from all angles.

We had not really noticed the awesomeness of the new track Vittring but we did now. It was really juiced up and sounded much heavier live. It also brought the vintage “80’s waving arms” that Hulkoff loves to do with the crowd. After seeing the crowd’s reaction and especially how much the band seemed to enjoy playing this song no one should be surprised if this gem stays on the Raubtier set lists for a very long time.

After the song bassist Bison celebrated the success by playing Queen’s iconic Under Pressure bass line to everyone’s approval.

Before Legoknekt, Hulkoff took a moment to say a few words in honour of Swedish soldiers in war zones everywhere. While the band’s execution of the song left nothing to ask for this was the first song that the crowd didn’t really respond to.

They rebounded quickly though as the band segwayed into the cannibal anthem Lennart. This is another song that sounds much heavier live, and it works much better on stage. Once again the crowd showed that they know the band as a sea of spooky hands were lifted creepily into the air, as is Raubtier custom for Lennart.

Besten I Mig and Polarvargen didn’t really connect with the crowd either, but in between, the crowd went completely nuts for Dobermann. Bison had played the Benny Hill theme (yup) while Hulkoff screamed “Skåne!!! Jump now!!” And he got his wishes fulfilled. The crowd was whistling along, waving their arms, jumping and screaming at the same time. Metal multitasking can be such a beautiful thing. When the song finally ended Hulkoff just sighed “What a feeling”.

After Änglar Raubtier left the stage only to return shortly after, demanding that we squeal like pigs, and then gave us a few encores that got the fans jumping and singing again. Not sure what they put in the water at Kulturbolaget, but it works. First we got Världsherravälde - one of our personal favourites and also the first song we ever heard with the band. It’s such a catchy and powerful track. It’s impossible, even for Lennart’s victims, not to sing along to that chorus.

Kamphund followed and the new Sabaton-esque Låt Napalmen Regna ended a very energetic and well played gig. Raubtier is one of those bands that are hard not to like. The three members are just so genuine and clearly enjoy being on stage. If you haven’t seen them yet, do yourself a favour and hurry up. You never know when Hulkoff decides to change his haircut again.

Setlist:

Det Finns Bara Krig
Sveriges Elit
Lebensgefahr
Hjärteblod
Hulkovius Rex
Vittring
Achtung Panzer
Dieseldöden
Legoknekt
Lennart
Besten i Mig
Dobermann
Polarvargen
Änglar
Världsherravälde
Kamphund
Låt Napalmen Regna