Millencolin
Kingwood
Burning Heart Records
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