Shape Of Punk To Come, The - Refused > Reviews > astounding

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Totally amazing and boundary destroying
Disadvantages:	A bit strange sometimes, unflinching political message might scare people off

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Good lord, where am i going to start with this album? Refused, previously a decidedly dodgy, Equal Vision by numbers hardcore band, totally redefined themselves on their final opus, and took most of the hardcore genre with them. The scene is still plagued by Refused copyists, but none of them are ever going to capture this spark.

Witness the opening salvo of "worms of the senses/faculties of the skull" - a minute of noise gateways to well paced verses, exlpoding into a chaotic chorus and ending with a Rage-esque buildup. It is an amazing way to open an album, mixing dischordant and scrambling instrumentation with Denis' characteristic (and frankly incredible) screaming conveying his usual political agenda: "I GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH CAPITALISM... AND A FEW TO BREAK!". Incidentally, Refused are one of the few bands who make political songs non-preachy or boring, and along with Dillinger Four, opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking with songs like "deadly rhythm (of the production line)".

The album is weird, there's no denying that - bizarre xylophone & radio interludes are abound, along with the rather strange decision of recording the last section of "new noise" live - but it works oh so well when mixed with a newfound brand of intelligent hardcore. Best songs are hard to pick, but the totally amazing "new noise" has to get a lookin, along with their most accessible song "summer holidays VS punkroutine". Songs like this show that Refused haven't forgotten that the way to rope people in is to write a catchy chorus among all that destruction.

I'm pretty weary about giving this album so many 5/5 ratings, but i don't really know any other way to convey how stunning this is. It's not instant, and it's not \m/etal all the way through, but for anyone willing to mix a bit of thought with the thrashing, this is totally essential. The only drawback of course, is that like every good band in the world they've split up and i'll never get to see them live...