October 27, 1998 - The Shape Of Punk To Come

Five days after my last release and almost two and a half years since "Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent", Refused released their third album "The Shape Of Punk To Come" on October 27, 1998. Refused are still playing hardcore punk, but they thought that it wasn't good enough anymore to just write anti-establishment songs: these had become too popular and too mainstream, and therefore not punk. So Refused set out to change the direction of punk music, and they were quite succesful actually as this album went on to inspire tons of other punk/hardcore/metal bands. Let's give it a listen!

The album kicks off with the seven-plus minute "Worms Of The Senses / Faculties Of The Skull" and the length alien is very unlike what we heard on their last album. The opening is also very different as there is a long and pretty trippy intro before they finally kick into a more typical-sounding Refused riff. There's a pretty catchy lead guitar riff and Dennis Lyxzen's yelling vocals sound pretty hardcore overtop. Jon Brannstrom adds some interesting keyboards and samples that continue the unusual vibe, but it mixes pretty well with the hardcore punk music actually and Kristofer Steen plays some cool lead guitar. The headbanging continues until the final minute, when things take another strange turn as we hear some computer-y, EDM-style noises and a voice speaking in Japanese! This song had several weird parts in it, including this very out of place ending, but the hardcore parts were pretty good. Up next is "Liberation Frequency" and it starts off fairly light with some quiet but decent guitars and some light vocals as well. After almost a minute and a half things get louder very suddenly and this part sounds nice and heavy and pretty cool. The next verse is quiet once again followed by a longer chorus with some nice yelling by Lyxzen. Magnus Bjorklund plays some cool bass as well and while the quieter parts weren't my favourite, there was enough good stuff to still make this a decent song. Track 3 is "The Deadly Rhythm" and David Sandstrom starts us off with some nice drums that everyone else forms a fast, stop-and-start main riff around. Everything sounds pretty sweet with everyone playing their part well to contribute to a pretty hardcore riff. Bjorklund plays some pretty cool bass midway through this one, then they snap back into the heavy main riff and nicely jam out the finish. No weird stuff on this song, and I think it's an early favourite. The next track is called "Summerholidays Vs. Punkroutine" and it has a fairly basic main riff that is definitely more punk than hardcore and Lyxzen shows some attitude in his vocals that also adds more to the punk side. It's not bad by any means, but it's less my scene than their heavier stuff. Lyxzen does do some yelling later on which sounds pretty good and then they predictably wrap things up. Track 5 is called "Bruitist Pome #5" and it's only a minute and a half long. It's got some old school keyboards that sound kind if like their out of a video game and Brannstrom adds some weird sample noises as well to make this a very unorthodox and pretty strange little interlude. Up next is Refused's biggest song "New Noise" and it has a long intro where they do a nice job of building things up, slowing them down and then having the heavy chorus come crashing in to nice effect. Lyxzen's vocals sound great and Iblive his "woo!" that he does a couple times. The verse has some talking vocals that are okay, but the chorus is heavy and catchy and hard not to headbanging along to. We hear a live crowd out of nowhere which is a little weird considering this isn't a live song, but it sounds good when they come thundering in after the applause. Lyxzen continues to yell nicely at the end of the song and it's no surprise that this was the big hit single, it was undeniably pretty cool! Track 7 is "The Refused Party Program" and there's an interesting talking intro where we hear "capitalism is an organized crime, and we're all the victims", an interesting line. Then they snap into a fast-paced and plenty heavy main riff with some cool guitar by Steen and some solid bass by Bjorklund as well while Lyxzen really let's loose with some nice yells as well! Everything sounds great for a little over a minute, but the final minute is another strange and unorthodox break with more trippy keyboards and samples. It sounds trippy and weird, and decent, but it just doesn't fit the hardcore punk that just preceded it. The next track is "Protest Song '68" and after another strange talking intro Lyxzen comes in firing with some nice high yells overtop some droning music with a slow and slightly trippy guitar riff. The middle section is very light and fluffy and repetitive, very out of place even for these guys! The next part is heavier and solid but they end it on another weird note and while I do like some of these weird things Refused are doing, a lot of them aren't hitting home for me. Track 9 is called "Refused Are Fuckin' Dead" and it starts with an industrial kind of riff that reminds me of King Crimson, which is a good thing for sure! It morphs into a similar but more typical Refused-style riff and things sound pretty catchy, especially when the cool guitar takes over and then Lyxzen yells a nice verse. They nicely jam out this riff for several minutes and it never drags, things sound pretty good. The weird keyboards take over briefly, but they return nicely to a heavy new verse before some DJ-like samples oddly finish things off. Up next is the title track "The Shape Of Punk To Come" and it has a nice upbeat and catchy main riff with some cool guitars leading the way and Lyxzen's yells sounding pretty sweet overtop. They don't stray far from this main riff, but it sounds pretty hardcore and sweet to me and I'm perfectly content. They end the song with some more out of place stuff, this part being very distorted, and like all these parts it's not terrible, but it just doesn't really fit in. Track 11 is the longest song on the album at just over eight minutes and it's called "Tannhäuser / Derivè". It opens with some guest violin by itself, and it sounds pretty epic actually! Sandstrom comes in on drums and then we hear some rhythm guitar that backs the lead violin nicely and the violin just keeps going and keeps sounding pretty good! Once the violin stops they slowly build up to a heavy main riff and the fast guitar sounds great when it comes in, as does Lyxzen's heavy yells. Lyxzen switches to singing for the next lighter part, and it's nowhere near as good as the heavy part that preceded and follows, which sounds great! There's a slow talking part with some decently epic music, but the talking is nothing special. Once it switches to yelling things sound much better and after jamming a bit of that they return for a final heavy chorus before things seem over around six minutes in. Some quiet bass continues on and then we hear some old accordion-like keyboards from Brannstrom that are way different than anything we've heard, but it follows the same principle as the other endings: it wasn't bad, but it was just really out of place. A rather strange bit to tack on to the end of the song. The final track on the album is "The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax" and it's a very slow and weird song with some interesting bass by Bjorklund leading the way. It's weird to have the bass leading the way, especially this odd riff, and the light guitar is more in the background. Lyxzen sings very softly at times overtop and we also hear some harmonica that gives this song a bit of a sad feel to it. It's a really weird song, even for Refused and it's an especially strange way to finish off this innovative album.

That is the end of "The Shape Of Punk To Come" and I thought it was certainly a unique and interesting album. Refused play some pretty cool music and I love Dennis Lyxzen's yelling vocals. There's lots to like, but there's also a lot of experimentation, which can of course be a good thing sometimes. But I thought most of their experimenting was a miss for me and it took away from otherwise good songs. The good definitely outweighed the weird though and I think overall I like it better than their last album "Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent". Refused succeeded in showing a new way to play punk music, but unfortunately they broke up not long after this album's release. Maybe we'll hear from then again though...