Nikola Sarcevic
Nikola & Fattiglapparna
Stalemate Music

Millencolin have written some very catchy skate punk songs during the 16 years they've been around, but unlike some of their contemporaries (e.g. NOFX) you can't give them any credit for much lyrical flare. Back in the day when CDs were all the rage it happened to me more than once that I bought a new Millencolin CD and reading the lyrics in the booklet on my way home totally killed all the excitement I'd built up in shop when buying the album. Usually I tried to ignore the lyrics when listening to the CD and most of the time it still sounded alright, but I couldn't completely ignore their crassness. This problem has only increased with the years and it really came to show when in 2004 Nikola Sarcevic released his first solo album "Lock-sport-krock" (with English lyrics, it very much sounded like an acoustic version of Millencolin). I liked a couple of songs on it, but the cheesy lyrics make it quite a hard listen. "Roll roll and flee" that was released two years later and was an improvement, so I'm a bit disappointed that Sarcevic now has decided to sing in Swedish on this, his third solo album ("Nikola & Fattiglapparna"). By having Swedish lyrics Sarcevic really puts them in the spotlight (if you're Swedish that is; if you're not, it probably has the opposite effect). Even though there are one or two good moments to be had on the album, most of it sounds like a poor man's Kristofer Åström with kindergarten-like lyrics and some terrible rhymes. I heard in an interview that Sarcevic wrote the lyrics first in English then translated them to Swedish which, to be honest, doesn't sound like such a great idea. It's a bit of a shame that the album is so dire, since Sarcevic's got a bit of knack for a melody and I kind of like his voice.
- Stefan Nilsson