Totalitär: 1998-2002 12” (Skrammel Records) Do you need Sorry State to tell you how great Totalitär is? Probably not, but I’m about to do it anyway! Like 1986-1989, which Skrammel released a few years ago, 1998-2002 collects several 7” EP from its titular years. You get 1998’s Klasse Inte Ras and Vansinnets Historia, 2000’s Dom Lurar Oss, 2001’s Spela Bort Allt Du Har, and 2002’s Allting Är På Låtsas. As Usman wrote in his staff pick, it’s far from a comprehensive overview of Totalitär’s output over this period, but it doesn’t have to be… getting five killer, hard-to-find records back into print is a fine mission as far as I’m concerned. You can never go wrong with any Totalitär record, but I’m fond of the era of the band captured here. The earlier records have a certain charm and I like that they’re more open-ended with their sound (though the later era of the band still has plenty of unexpected moments), but they’d locked into a thing by this period and perfected a sound that is wholly their own. A song like the title track to the Dom Lurar Oss EP is everything that’s great about Totalitär boiled down to its essence, and there are plenty of other moments that are just as strong. Whether you’re getting this because these are records you love and you want to have them compiled in a convenient format, or whether you’re adding these tracks to your collection for the first time, if you like Totalitär (and who doesn’t?), you’ll play the fuck out of this thing. As with 1986-1989, the packaging is no-frills by today’s punk reissue standards, but that’s in keeping with Totalitär’s total focus on the music (an approach they share with the almighty Out Cold). There are, however, two photo collages on the back that offer a rare glimpse into the people who made this music, and there are also some pretty hilarious photos of some unique merch items. 28 tracks of hardcore punk perfection.