Sweden.
The home of high-tech cellphones, extremely safe automobiles, assemble-it-yourself modular furniture, beautiful hockey and tennis stars, designer vodka, tasty meatballs, rippin' death metal & Abba.
Did I forget anything?
Oh yes...
Back in the early-to-mid Nineties, Sweden was home to an all-female vegan/sXe hardcore band from Umea that released a few records on Victory that pretty much flew under the radar - quite possibly due to their political stance. That, as well as the fact that the meathead sXe HC scene (associated with that label at the time) found the all-girl lineup somewhat a novelty - too bad, as these ladies put their own honest and unique twist (especially vocal-wise) on their output.
They were quite dark & melodic in their appraoch with lots of chugga-chugga/pick-squeals/breakdowns, etc.
While this may be a bit of a stretch for some of you, I find their entire catalog compelling & highly enjoyable, even 10+ years later.
I am also still intrigued by the history of this band - especially for what they accomplished in such a misogynistic scene back in the day...