Walking with strangers

Trollhättan, early 2000's - a young Pontus Johansson is hanging out at the local youth recreation center, trying to play electric guitar with a key for a pick. Through a window climbs a drunk Anton Hallenberg, who claims to be an awesome drummer (he can keep a straight four-stroke). They figure someone whose older brother sings in a band must be a pretty good vocalist himself, so their friend Robin Schulz soon joins their creative ranks.

Robin is just as good at singing as Pontus is at playing the guitar and Anton the drums. None of them dares even dream about one day being one of Sweden’s most promising young metal bands. Still, there’s a definitive spark of creativity there and music feels more important than anything else in the world. The guys are unassuming but passionate, and that’s why things get going (a sentiment hundreds of Swedish small-town bands would agree with).

They learn to actually play, recruit more members and call themselves Walking With Strangers. They find a purpose upon hearing heavyweight champions like Parkway Drive and Suicide Silence. They find an identity upon combining a contemporary core sound with time-honored Swedish metal traditions. They build a young fanbase big enough to play the renowned Hultsfred festival in 2009 without a record deal. There's something tricky about the songs that makes people go bananas.

In the winter of 2010 they release the EP "Buried, Dead and Done". It makes webzines rave about “goose bump-inducing guitars” (Sebastian Zweiniger for muzic.se), it produces Youtube videos of the most violent wall of death ever seen at the Metaltown festival and it brings the band out on tour in Europe with successful labelmates Adept.

Trollhättan, fall of 2011: Pontus Johansson (guitar) , Robin Schultz (vocals), Anton Hallenberg (drums) Christian Höijer (bass) and Christopher Lennartsson (guitar) release their debut full-length "Hardships".

A 33:24 minutes long showcase of contemporary metal at its most vital. Brutal enough to secure the opening slot for the upcoming Close-Up Made Us Do It tour with the mighty Entombed and The Haunted. At the same time, it’s also dynamic and electronically surprising enough to give Bring Me The Horizon a run for their money.

Overlook Walking With Strangers and you’ll overlook the sound of the future.