Label: Burning Heart Records
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6
Millencolin have been going now for 15-16 years, hence the name of their seventh album (it sounds a bit cynical and bitter to call your band a "machine", doesn't it?). Lou Giordano who produced Millencolin's fifth album "Home from home" has again been called in, I suspect, to give the album that polished Foo-Fighters-feel, and he's succeeded. It is a very slick album, with Millencolin nurturing their softer more melodic side. They've also gone a bit wacky and added strings on some of the tracks, a trick that works just fine despite it not being that obvious. I prefer Millencolin when they've got a sound that's dirtier and more rock'n'roll and with less arena rock ambitions, so I'm not that keen on this album. Another thing that bugs me is that Nikola Sarcevic's lyrics are really terrible. I mean, they're among the worse I've ever heard; even though he's pretty good at writing choruses, some of the verses just make me cringe. Millencolin's lyrics have always been bad and full of horrible rhymes, but listening to "Machine 15" I can't help getting outright annoyed by them. Despite all this, it's a solid album with a handful of skatepunk hits that should appeal to the Kerrang/Alternative Press demographic.
- Simon Tagestam
6
Much more impressive than Moneybrother's latest album is Anders Wedin's constant output of new material (this is Moneybrother's fourth album since 2003). The quality of his songs might vary, but even at his lowest, Wedin's never really that bad, his worse is quite medium. This is why I'm not too bothered about "Mount Pleasure" not being as solid as Moneybrother's first two albums. It's a predictable collection of songs, and, except the first single ("Just another summer"), there aren't too many songs that I'd miss if this album was forever erased from the history of music (harsh, I know). As we'd come to except by now, it's a lot of songs sounding like Bruce Springsteen, Thin Lizzy and a few that could have been done by Monster (Wedin's band before Moneybrother). Let's hope that Moneybrother will release a new album not too far away from now, and that it'll be both fresh and absolutely amazing, "Mount Pleasure" is just about too "meh" for me and my dear ears.
- Simon Tagestam
7
Finally, a record worth noticing from Burning Heart again. After lots of mediocre releases, Path of No Return has, judging by the labels own statement, gone full circle with their metal-/hardcore. And I agree in a way. The debut album "Black nights coming", released on the The Mars Volta-label GSR, left me disappointed and indifferent. But after listening to this album, I'm bound to say that they've gone through a huge improvement and have added new dimensions to the music. It's not all about technique and skill anymore; something that was mye overall impression last time around. And from what I've heard, that was the main part to why previous vocalist Adam Hector left the band shortly after the debut. There's a whole different depth to the band nowadays, both when it comes to the music in general, but also in the lyrics and graphics. That is something that I welcome. Musically, it's reminiscent to Swedish colleagues Nine, but also American combos such as Himsa and Snapcase. Yeah, remember those dinosaurs? Hardcore with a metal touch is somewhat the new black these days and, sure, it's easy to accuse the band of jumping on the bandwagon, but having been around since 2001, Path of No Return can be considered veterans in this genre. Not only that, they're veterans with songs! And that's something that lots of other bands in the genre lack. That there are also influences from Swedish hardcore trendsetters Refused is not surprising at all, but they're not making it into a carbon copy except for the bridge in "Broken dances" wherein the guitar melody is similar to the one in Refused's "Last minute pointer". But where that classic Umeå-band always maintained focus throughout every album, that's what this Örebro-band is having problems. A full-length format seems a bit like overkill, instead an EP-release would've probably been in the band's best interest.
- Jonas Appelqvist
I'm a huge fan of Swedish hip-hop master Promoe's band Looptroop and I love all their albums and also Promoe's first two solo albums, but I'm not really feeling "White man's burden". Lately, Promoe has been moving too closely to appear as a caricature of himself and on "White man's burden" I think he often comes across more as a latter day Guru than a KRS-One in his prime. All the guest spots from various non-English speaking rappers are a very good idea, but with Promoe appearing to be rapping more on routine than with the passion he's previously shown, I can't help but feeling a bit frustrated. That said, this album isn't really that bad. There are some great songs on here (eg "Headache"), I guess I'm just spoiled with the high quality that I've come to associate with a Looptroop/Promoe release and "White man's burden" just doesn't live up to the high hopes I had for it.
- Simon Tagestam
Millencolin (Sarcevic's band) has always been more about killer melodies than any Dostoyevsky-like lyrics, and one problem with Sarcevic's first solo album was that the lyrics appeared naïve and awkward, being laid so bare with only an acoustic backdrop. Don't get me wrong, I've always liked Millencolin's lyrics - they work well with the music - but in a The Descendents sort of way, not in a The Mountain Goats way. This time around, Nikola Sarcevic's lyrics have really improved. The overtly simple rhymes from "Lock-sport-krock" shine with their absence. The music itself has also improved, the album feels much more “natural” and less stilted this time around. It's still of the same singer/songwriter school as his debut though, but just much more solid and … better! Hopefully Sarcevic will bring along all this progression to the next Millencolin album.
- Simon Tagestam
On this album Raised Fist have pushed the limits a bit more. We're still talking about pissed-off, aggresive hardcore here, but the band has made its most diverse set of songs yet. While the first couple of EPs was strongly influenced by Youth Of Today and the old-school hardcore scene, this album contains more metal breakdowns, hard-hitting grooves, no compromising vocals and even more rawk. Yes, it's true, Swedens finest hardcore act (still existing, that is) have a few rock n' roll influenced tunes on this one. And I like it! It keeps the album together perfectly. One of the best things that ever happened to the band was the recruitment of Matte Modin, (and by that I'm not saying that former drummer Oskar Karlsson didn't do a great job), the Dark Funeral-drummer gives them a push forward not imaginable before. I've been in love with Raised Fist ever since they released the "You're not like me"-EP and my love is still intact with "The sound of the republic". In fact, it's even more passionate than before! When it eventually comes time to put together a list of the best albums of 2006, this one will probably be on my top 10.
- Jonas Appelqvist
"The 'Chinese Democracy' of punkrock". The statement in the press release from Burning Heart couldn't be more right. The waiting has been long and the expectations incredibly high. But the comparisons with the Axl Rose-monster stops there. While he seems to be more and more of a shadow of his former self, most Refused-members have great musical careers apart from the old band (Dennis in The (International) Noise Conspiracy, David in David Sandström Overdrive and Jon as Jon F. Kennedy [ed: and don't forget ex-bassist Magnus and Cobolt]). Lots of us grew up with Refused. We went to their gigs, bought every record and sought extrication from other punkbands often lousy records and live shows. When Refused got up on stage or went into the studio we knew magic would come out of it. And that's what makes it so hard to watch this DVD. Sure, the music and photography is brilliant and ex-guitarist Kristofer Steen has made this movie with love, I can tell; but the story about why the band broke up and the feelings evolving around that is never deeply penetrated. My feeling is that they are just scratching the surface. The band broke up during the USA-tour following the masterpiece "The shape of punk to come". All members get interviewed thoroughly and they're giving answers to some things never mentioned before, but when I watch "Refused are fucking dead" I can't help but think "I know this already, I know about the whole scenario. I want to get under their skins and really know how they felt about each other." That makes me wonder one other thing: who is this movie really made for? If you're like me, there's nothing new under the sun in these 38 minutes. And if you're someone who's just interested in what Refused was, the movie can seem a bit too self-centered, as if the filmmakers think it's obvious that people know who this band was. And believe me, as much as I'd like that everyone should know, not all people do know the Refused-story. The extra material is two videos ("New noise" and "Rather be dead") and live clips of every song featured on "The shape of punk to come". Oh, and speaking of liveclips; it's not ok to edit a livegig for a DVD-release. I happen to know for a fact that the samples in "New noise" weren't present during the Popstad-gig in the movie. It's not ok to pretend that everything's alright. At least we can take comfort in that no matter how much I dislike this DVD, "Chinese Democracy" will be even worse. Time will tell.
- Jonas Appelqvist
Randy are back! Bring out the dancing shoes and dust them off! They're also back on form, after 2003's "Welfare problems" which was alright but still a puny follow-up to the masterpiece that "The human atom bombs" was (just thinking about that album gives me goosebumps). When I tried to go through the album and list the best tracks I realized that all songs here are excellent, but if I have to handpick a bunch, it'd probably be "Better than art", "Going out with the dead", and "Teenage tiger", although if you'd ask me tomorrow I'm sure I'd list three completely different ones. "Randy the band" isn't a great step forward for Randy in terms of further developing their sound, in fact the album contains very strong elements from their last three releases, so it almost plays like a "best of" even though it isn't one. Randy is my favourite band, so it feels really reassuring that "Randy the band" is a journey into that top-notch punk rock that I've come to expect from every new Randy release since their debut album came out 11 years ago. Now, please bring on 2007 and another Randy album!
- Simon Tagestam
I loved Refused. I found The (International) Noise Conspiracy intriguing in the very beginning of their career, before they turned extremely boring. I liked the first Lost Patrol album and wasn't too keen on the second one. What about this new album from the ever-so-creative Dennis Lyxzén then? Well, there's none of the slower beautiful stuff that can be found on "Songs in the key of resistance", and too many songs sound like something by T(I)NC. Surprisingly enough, there are 5 fantastic pop songs on this album, that in a fair world should all be released simultaneously worldwide, then all entering the top 5 all over the globe (with "Golden times" occupying the #1 spot everywhere, of course).
- Simon Tagestam
This is a bit better than "Scandinavian leather", but nowhere near as perfect as "Apocalypse dudes". There are some kick ass songs here though, like "All my friends are dead", "Blow me (Like the wind)", and "If you see Kaye (Tell her I L-O-V-E her)", and they almost make the album worth buying. There's an uncomfortable aspect of this album though, and that's how Turbonegro look as if they're about to evolve into a travesty of themselves, something that I really hope won't ever happen.
- Simon Tagestam
Anders Wedin's former band Monster released a couple of albums (and a compilation) that had quite a lot of good songs on them, but they were far from perfect, and the same goes for Moneybrother's first album "Blood panic" - a lot of hits, but too many duds. Looking back like this, it appears as if Anders Wedin has gradually improved as a songwriter (not that weird, I know), only for him to reach his full potential on "To Die Alone". For this is in fact, to use a British term, a belter of an album. There are no of those dodgy duets that I had problems to stomach from "Blood panic" and Anders appears very confident with his excellent voice, and it appears as if he has calmed down a bit and not tried to fit thousands of ideas onto one record, which consequently makes all the songs on "To die alone" gel better than what the "Blood panic" tracks do. With "To die alone" we also get a nice mix of up-tempo number and slower stuff, and personally I prefer the slower songs to the rockier ones, there's so much soul in them that they almost burst! The best track on the disc is "Eventually it'll break your heart" (a gorgeous but sad, sad song) which is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time and for the last two weeks I have to get a daily dose of it or I start feeling strange. A few weeks ago I reviewed the first single from this album and wrote that it gave me a 'sickly feeling' - a statement I won't withdraw but I can admit that I like "They're building walls around us" a bit more now than then, but it's still my least favourite track from the album. As you might have noticed, this review doesn't really add that much to the current praise that Moneybrother is getting from the It's a Trap! quarters and other places, so allow me to humbly join the queue of people saying: "This album is fantastic".
- Simon Tagestam
I've been a fan of Millencolin since I was 14 and heard their first EP "Use your nose" (they were really my first love, well them and Jakob Hellman). I think their two first albums are classics, whereas the third one ("Music for monkeys") and their fourth one ("Home from Home") have never rotated that much in my stereo. With their fourth album ("Pennybridge pioneers") they got Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion) to produce and the result was a heavier sound (heavier as in still soft but more edgier than their previous super poppy sound), which suited them well and it sort of made it appear as if they had matured a bit and musically "evolved". I was very relieved to hear then that with "Kingwood" (their sixth album) they have once again gone "heavier" and decided to write some less wimpy songs than before. It's still melodic new school punk we're dealing with though, melodic new school punk of the finest variety! Most people don't like this sort of stuff, or at least none of my friends do (there is of course no reason for this), but if you like your Blink 182, Green Day, Descendents, Lagwagon, NOFX and so on, you should definitely give this a listen.
- Simon Tagestam
I really want to like this, I would love to say that I'm crazy about it and that it's an even better song than "Reconsider me" (the first single from Moneybrother's last album - a song so good I would rank it as one of my top five songs from the last five years), but this up-tempo number just doesn't do the trick for me. Furthermore, there's something about it that unfortunately makes me think of nothing but crappy TV series from the 80s when I hear it. It's a bit of shame really, since I'm a massive Moneybrother fan, and really looking forward to his forthcoming album (out in March). Fortunately the second song on the single, "Bum fuxxed (For sure)" (great title, by the way), with its reliable Moneybrother sound that involves fine falsetto singing and great backing vocals, is good enough to stop me from thinking that Moneybrother has "lost it" and become a parody of themselves. But the single itself just tries too hard to be catchy and energetic. Frankly, it's just a bit too much and it gives me a sickly feeling similar to the one I get when I talk to crazy drunk people when I'm sober. That said, I bet I would really like the song when drunk (something that's not too hard to test, of course, but since I'm in no mood to get drunk right now you just have to stick with my assumption).
- Simon Tagestam
Even though this isn't being released until next February in the U.S. and the rest of the world, the record shop I usually venture for the latest and greatest had it. Was it worth the $20.99 plus 7.75% California sales tax I paid for it?
For starters, Dennis Lyxzén and Co. have returned with another strong effort. With producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin at helm, the (I)NC, coping with the departure of keyboardist/guitarist Sara Almgren, move away from the garage sound they were known for to a more complete rock sound.
The album's ten tracks are all mid-to-uptempo and makes it hard for the listener to sit still through them. On the album's opening track (and next single which was released Nov. 15 by Burning Heart) "A Small Demand," the guitars, bass and drums romp along with the organ in a very catchy tune that sets the mood for the album. Lyxzén sings with desperation and urgency as the song progresses. The saxophone solo by Jonas Kullhammer adds a very interesting mix to the song.
"The Way I Feel About You" continues the trend set by the opening track with Inge Johansson's pulsating bass line bouncing along with the keyboard playing of guests Benmont Tench and Kullhammer. Lars Strömberg's guitar plays along with the keyboard as Ludvig Dahlberg's drum hash out this big '70s rock beat. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album.
The (I)NC manage to keep up the speed on "Let's Make History". It's another one of those tracks that has a great bass line and a rhythm section that just pulsates. It also contains another one of Lyxzén's passionate pleas in trying to move on without a comrade. Guitar and organ solo halfway through the song sounds very clean.
"The Dream Is Over" experiments with a blues sound with its driving guitar and piano leading the assault. Lyxzén's vocals are strong and suit the sound. It has this richness that is a good contrast to the instrumentation but both balance out each other as the song continues.
"All In All" reminds me of a Sade song. Soulful on one hand but yet still uniquely rock on the other. It's also the slowest song on the album. The bongos are a nice change of pace and the introduction of Charlotte Hatherly (of Ash fame) into the background vocal mix are also a nice touch.
"Black Mask" is a noisy reintroduction to the old sound. The song is chaotic yet catchy at the same time, with its sing-along bridge and chorus. The instrumentation is intriguing as the guitar wails towards the end with Lyxzén's vocals as everything struggles to be heard. He manages to do another one of his trademark yells at the end that's good enough to make any skeptical fan happy.
"Communist Moon" shows that they can still make the listener dance. Although the title will guarantee that the song never gets played on the radio, it's another song in which the instruments bounce along with one another. The lyrics are still catchy as Lyxzén and company sing "Let's all share our dreams/ Under a communist moon". This song could be the rallying cry of counterrevolutionaries everywhere. It also displays the keyboarding talent of the legendary Billy Preston. Preston's playing really completes the sound.
Things get jazzy with "This Side of Heaven". It's yet another one of the songs that has a great bassline that just rumbles as the guitar plays a subtle role. It is also very reminiscent of "New Empire Blues" off of their critically-acclaimed "A New Morning, Changing Weather".
"Like A Landslide" is another one of those songs that finds itself driven by Lyxzén's vocals and the driving backbeat.
"Armed Love" is the big closing number with its freaked-out harmonica solo dueling with the organ and the return of the '70s rock sound. Perfect closing number.
Rubin pushes the (I)NC to the limits of their sound while still keeping it unique for them. Although it is not as adventurous sound-wise as "A New Morning, Changing Weather", it still contains a lot of the jazz and blues elements they played around with in their previous release. "Armed Love" at times reminds me of The Jam and The Who (from the "Who's Next" era, which isn't a bad thing.
The songs contain many of the themes that fans and listeners have come to know and love (or hate, in some cases.) Although the political rhetoric is still there, I found it to be more accessible than in previous times. In fact, this album is probably more accessible than "A New Morning..." or "Survival Sickness" but still manages to make the revolution a very romantic idea. It could be hard to swallow for those who have followed the Conspiracy from its inception but give "Armed Love" a try and you won't be disappointed.
- Navy Keophan
After the break-through release of "Black city", I'm glad to report that DoLL have managed to craft a more-than-worthy follow-up. They enlisted the production assistance of Kalle from The Soundtrack of Our Lives and it paid off. His sonic influence is obvious and goes beyond the requisite guest appearances from fellow TSOOL members Mattias Bärjed and Martin Hederos. It sounds like the band took a lot of time experiment with different tones and the end result is a strongly varied sonic palette. Taking cues from bands like Silverbullit, "Das not compute" also cranks up the fuzz-factor to 10 and layers it on thick. There's a couple tracks here and there that don't really go anywhere, but the stuff's that's good (such as the single "Dirty love" and the epic "Breathe breathe") more than makes up for it.
- Avi Roig
Millencolin
Moneybrother
Path of No Return
Promoe
Nikola Sarcevic
