Wednesday, January 22: F.K.Ü., "Mosh Under Pressure"
F.K.Ü. may deliver goofy retro throwback thrash, but at least they got in on the game much earlier, as Metal Moshing Mad came out all the way back in 1999. The ridiculously named Freddy Kruger’s Underwear (the umlaut was presumably for panache) offered a counterpoint to melodic death metal dominating heavy music in Sweden at the time by going all-in on the ‘80s Exodus homage, and ended their first album by going full Combat/Megaforce with the aptly titled “Mosh Under Pressure”. The track was written for skateparks and meant to be stomped to while wearing Etonics, with ludicrous gang vocals yelling the title that were only slightly more ridiculous than Larry Lethal (nice) and his Zetro-style snarl. The music was prototypical thrash stop/start jump-bounce that didn’t stay in any one place for too long but maintained a consistency in the general approach to riffs and drums. F.K.Ü. signaled their intentions with their name and song titles (“You Stink”, “Horror Metal Man” and “Die Some More” barely scratch the surface), so it was a given that “Mosh Under Pressure” wasn’t meant to be taken all that seriously, and the band had as much precision in their approach as their melodeath peers. It just remains astounding that that level of focus and craftsmanship was in service of something like this.
