HAGGIS - STORMTROOPERS OF HATE Lock up ya daughters and ya drinks cabinet! Haggis are on the loose again! This is the band's brand new album and their first full-length studio one ("Aggro mongos" being made up of demos and stuff). If you know anything about this band then you'll know that they ain't strictly an Oi band as such, nor could you call them an out and out punk band either! Haggis are a hybrid of various styles and they draw their influences from everything to Oi! and punk right through to Motorhead and Johnny Cash. Unfortunately the band also seem to be influenced by dodgy thrash / death metal stuff to and sadly songs like "Poors a bore" and "Toss it in the bin" do nothing for me whatsoever! But that's neither here nor there, cos when Haggis ain't screaming their lungs out and thrashing their instruments to oblivion, they are more than capable of producing some highly amusing and imaginative songs! Check out "History lesson part 1" and "This is our country"... funny as fuck in a totally politically incorrect way! Furthermore they can more than hold their own when it comes to raucous streetpunk tunes as well. Tracks like "Look at me when I talk to you", "Joey Ramone", "Alle damer er horer" and the very Motorhead sounding title track "Stormtroopers of hate" are all excellent outings and prove that this bunch of motley herberts can punk out with the best of them! Stand out song for me though is the excellent "The Vikings are coming" which is straight up there with the likes of Tenpole Tudor's "Swords of a 1000 men" in the "Beer & cheer" stakes! A fucking hilarious classic ! This LP will be available sometime in August from those fine chaps at Pure Impact, so do yourself a favour and pick up a copy... you won't regret it! Hell, even those ugly Saxon gits Retaliator make an appearance! Bloik!..... (Rated ****) "Oi! 4 England" webzine Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) Haggis is back, and this time with a full-length album. When you stick this in your CD-player you are in for a surprise. It's obvious that the band has put a lot of effort into this album. The production is better, the songs are better and the band sounds better than they've done before. The album kicks off with some real aggro Haggis style. "More war", "History lesson pt. 1", and "Stormtroopers of hate" is as hard as it gets. The "Vikings are coming" is the track they have made a video to. The song is excellent even if it's very untypical for Haggis. It's melodious and with a very "poppy" (ok, let's say it like it is: a very gay-ish) chorus. If you're the PC kind of guy you might want to avoid this album though. The guys make absolutely no effort what so ever to please the PC crowd. Tracks like "History lesson pt. 1", "Alle damer er horer" (All women are whores), "Toss it in the bin" (abortion), "Look at me when I talk to you", "Hammersmashed prostitute" and "This is our country" won't get the Haggis lads any new friends in PC circles. Those of us who share their sense of humour will have many good laughs though. What surprises me the most with this album is the variety in the songs. This album has everything from classic Oi! and punk, motorhead-style metal, a tribute to Johnny Cash and perhaps one of the weirdest songs I've ever heard: "Hate and war", a fast, aggressive song interrupted by banjo playing deliverance style. (As we all know, "Deliverance" was filmed in the western part of Norway, with members of the band and their families "acting" as the locals). Take a look at Sturla's ears or even better, take a look at the fat animal, and you'll see what I mean. There is also a classic country song called "This is our country" on the CD. Probably just to emphasize the fact that we're dealing with a bunch of rednecks here. The lyric-sheet and the cover are worth mentioning too. The cover was drawn by a famous Norwegian cartoonist. Many Norwegians will recognise the style it's done in. Anyway, I cannot come up with a single reason for not recommending this album. Nearly every song is worthy the 7" treatment if you ask me. With this album, Haggis has taken a leap forward to fame or perhaps even better: infamy! Buy it you bastards. "http://www.skinhead.no" Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) Ja, vi elsker punken Stavangerbandet Haggis liker å dyrke sitt image som punkens siste skanse, men bak all flørtingen med krig, død og blod er det ikke så vanskelig å øyne en solid sans for humor. Hør for eksempel «21 Beers» der åpningslinjene er «1 beer down, 20 more to go/2 beers down/19 more to go». Resten av teksten kan du tenke deg. Haggis alternative verdenshistorie i «History Lesson 1» gjør også at jeg er glad for at bandet har spandert å trykke alle tekstene i omslaget: «Napoleon was beaten in Bryansk/because he was drunk on gammel dansk». Best er bandet når de nærmer seg forbildene i The Ramones, som i allsangvennlige «The vikings are coming» og den rene hyllest-låta «Joey Ramone». Haggis har også et bra tak på britisk 70-tallspønk - hør bare «Skinheads in the mist». På platenes eneste norskspråklige låt, «Alle damer er horer», får vi til og med et svakt ekko av Jokke, og det er da også den avdøde rockeheltens bror Christopher Nielsen som har tegnet forsiden på plateomslaget, mens Petter Pogo fra Jokke & Valentinerne bidrar på platen - i likhet med blant annet Steffen Schreuder, Petter Baarli og Simon fra Mighty Dogfood. De rene øs-pøs-kjør-for-fullt-låtene fungerer derimot garantert bedre på scenen enn på plate. Sturla, Ottar, Frode og Affi har et opplagt ønske om å provosere, som på «Toss it in the bin» der dama er gravid og gravøren insiterer på å kaste ungen i bosset. Særlig sjokkerende blir det derimot aldri, kanskje fordi Haggis hele tiden demonstrerer en kjærlighet til sjangeren, og ser ut til å ha det skikkelig moro underveis. Ottar «the fat animal» sin svakhet for Mötorhead skinner også igjennom, i likhet med doser av thrashrock. Haggis runder av det hele med en halsbrekkende versjon av countrystandaren «Long black veil», faktisk en av de mest underholdende tolkningene av denne som er levert. "Aftenbladet.no" Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) Last band on stage was Haggis. I'm surprised these guys don't get beaten up more often. Calling everybody faggots, cunts and mongoloids is usually a quite good application for a good beating. They got away with it tonight as well, and that is probably just as well. They played a set of well-known Haggis songs. something old and something new from their forthcoming album: Stormtroopers of Hate. Like I said about Case of Pride, I think Haggis gets better for every time I see them. Musically they have come a long way the last year and they are tighter than ever. Written by Bønna from http://www.skinhead.no http://www.stavangerpunk.com http://www.haggisofnorway.tk Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) The festival is coming to an end but there is one band left, and that band is none other than Haggis. They are celebrating their 10 year anniversary and what is more natural than having a cake on stage. The person from the crowd who was invited up on stage to congratulate Haggis with their birthday, was soon tossed out again with a face full of cake. I don't wanna speculate on what was in the cake but I know the guys in Haggis, and I am very happy I didn't get that cake in the face. Otherwise they did a good gig as always. Some of the bands earlier had played very long sets so there wasn't that much time left for Haggis. They have also released a book about the band, covering the first ten years. The book is titled "Ich bin nicht ein tög" and will of course be reviewed on this site sometime in the future. We just have to learn how to read first :-) http://www.skinhead.no Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) Rogalands svøpe, Stavangers skrekk, Beverly Funpub regulators, kjært barn har mange navn. Jepp, provokatørene og anstifterne i Haggis, er etter ti års turbulens ute med sin første ordentlige fullengder. Så var omsider Haggis sin lenge bebudte fullengder Stormtroopers of Hate ute. Denne begivenheten har merkelig nok ( kremt, kremt ..) ikke gått upåaktet hen blant forståsegpåere, bedrevitere, synsere, tåkefyrster og annet selvhøytidelig PK pakk. Det er til å le seg ihjæl av, og sørger garrantert for at salget av denne skiva går over alle forventniger. Naturlig nok følger da spørsmålet om hvorvidt Haggis har noe å tilby bortsett fra pen innpakkning og et massivt pr-apparat? Og det skal ikke mange minuttene med Stormtroopers Of Hate (SOH) i spellern for å få svar på det, Haggis anno 2004 svinger som schvarte hælvete. Guttas forrige singel "Pride Is Our Crime" antyda at ting var i gjære, men at fulllengderen skulle ta såpass av, hadde vel de færreste trodd. Det Haggis leverer på SOH er en fresk blanding av hardcore/oi/pønk/thrash tilsatt en god porsjon Mötorhead-rocknroll og allsangrefrenger. For å trekke fram noen høydepunkt er videohiten "The Vikings Are Coming" (videoen finner du ved å kjøre cd`en på pc`en din.....), "History Lesson #1" , "Skinheads In The Mist" og ikke minst den tidløse Whaler`s-inspirerte "Alle Damer er Horer" glimrende eksempler på. Men det skal og sies at et par ting trekker litt ned på helhetsintrykket. Haggis har en tendens til å operere i et par sjangre for mye. Jeg hadde garrantert klart meg utmerket uten å bli feid over av Haggis' bidrag til rølpa hardcorekaosmetall-rocknroll, jeg ser vel heller ingen umiddelbar verdensdominans innen southern rock/ country sjangeren for gutta. Tekstmessig er det minst et par ganger SOH havner i grøfta, og erstatter humor og provokasjon til fordel for smakløshet sjelden sett på denne siden av Macc Lads. Alt i alt er Stormtroopers of Hate blitt en glimrende skive som trygt kan anbefales. Haggis lever opp til PK hypen, og serverer det som pr. idag er noe av det nærmeste vi kommer en moderne norsk klassiker innen rølpa oi/punk/rocknroll. Anbefales. Spot.no Haggis: «Stormtroopers of hate» (Pure impact) I know that a lot of people think Haggis are hilarious and admire them for being so anti-political correct and that they take the piss at everyone and everything. I just think they are corny. Im not the one to moralise, and mind you-I have a sense of humour. Music like Haggis can be both fun and great-just look at Anti Nowhere Leugue. You can't do it great and fun like The League and you can do it like Haggis. In their case it just coarse, stupid and rude. It becomes to obvious that they are doing it to provote, like in the songs Hammersmashed prostitute, Poor`s a bore and History lesson #1 They forget the humour and it doesn't have any heart. And anyway, the lyrics are poorly written and the music isn't that good either. To sum it up-Haggis isnt exactly my favorit band. They are many good Norwegian punk and Oi-bands but Haggis isn't one of them. I don't even become in a bad mood or get offended when I hear this... I just get tired. "Mitt val, mitt liv" Haggis - Stormtroopers Of Hate (8/10) - Norway - Simple isn't the same as shitty, that's one of the things HAGGIS proves with their CD "Stormtroopers Of Hate". I've chosen to label their music as Punk Metal though I've read several places that HAGGIS are considered to be Norway's only Punk Rock band. Anyway they also proves that Norwegians can play Punk music with the best of them, to be honest HAGGIS plays the best Punk this individual has ever heard. It must also be mentioned that I've heard a minimum of the Punk music this world has to offer. HAGGIS comes from a place in Norway that calls itself Stavanger, that city has fostered bands such as GEHENNA, THEATRE OF TRAGEDY (Change your name to Tragedy, please) and DISMAL EUPHONY. "Stormtroopers Of Hate" starts with the spoken words of an individual that sounds like a drunken Englishman, proclaiming that HAGGIS are recognized by the trail of blood, broken bottles and gob they leave behind, quite an easy gang for the police to catch then. "More War" is the starter of the album and a very good start it is, setting the tone right away. A simple but good riff carries the song away accompanied with the aggressive shouts of Sturla The Bastard. Just listen to this one when your drunk and I promise that you'll get the most out of it. It's a fact that very few people become any smarter after consuming alcohol and therefore I'd like to recommend HAGGIS to anyone that's drunk. My favourite song on "Stormtroopers Of Hate" is the one called "History Lesson #1". A very good bass and some hilarious lyrics are the icing on the cake here. It's safe to say that you'll fail your history exam if you use this lyric as a reference. I would also like to mention the song "This Is Our Country" just because it's one of those songs that makes "Stormtroopers Of Hate" a varied ride. Here they bring in some clear Country influences and they do it with style, fuck it almost makes we want to steal a horse and loot some farmers. All in all HAGGIS are recommended to all of those who found out that Prog Rock aren't the thing when you want drink. Take a listen to the songs I've given a link to hear what HAGGIS is all about. Be sure to check out their home-page as well and see why I didn't dare to give this album a bad review. (Online October 4, 2005) "Metal Observer" Haggis - Stormtroopers Of Hate Well I think I should start this one with a bit of a warning, if you're a member of the politically correct brigade then fuck off now. Haggis are Norways self proclaimed worst band in the universe or so it says on their website. The music ranges from hardcore punk to sing a long oi but the lyrics - well someone once said that the Macc Lads make the Sex Pistols sound like cherubs, well Haggis make the Macc lads sound like Boyzone, for example "Toss it in the Bin" has the lines "You are fucking pregnant and you stink, inside you there is something ugly and pink, I kick you in the stomach and stick sticks up your cunt, Yeah I want to kill it, it's a foetus hunt". Now that's probably the worst on the album along with maybe "Hammersmashed prostitute". It's not all nasty, there's songs about vikings, beer and a rather good tribute "Joey Ramone". Now I don't want to get into politics but I'm sure someone will get the wrong idea about the band, so I'll just say look at their website to see the slogans "Pride is our crime" and "Neither red nor racist". So let's just say I like some of the album but a few songs are a bit over the top. 3 out of 5 Review from "Punk and Oi in the UK"