Review Summary: Being naive can be a very good thing.
In 2002, the summer months had seemed to go on forever, and being 13 at the time, I was still caught up in the MTV music scene. Though I personally was getting over the sugar coated pop music that had been getting played over and over on the radio seeing as in 2002 Avril Lavigne was finding things complicated, Nelly was getting hot in here and Vanessa Carlton had walked one thousand miles over and over again. It was time to branch out, time for a change. I walked into a record store and asked the man at the counter to hand me a CD that was different to anything I would hear on the radio. At this point the man handed me a Led Zeppelin album, though knowing Zeppelin already I asked for another CD. Then a very funny thing occurred. In the very corner of my eye noticed a boy, at very similar age to me at the time was looking through albums in the punk/hardcore section (a section I previously refused to enter) and picked up Millencolin’s new album,
Home From Home. He exclaimed that he was so excited that their new album had dropped, and it will probably be his "most favourite albums ever". A very big statement, but I being very naive and easily persuaded went out on a limb and purchased it.
And I was in for a treat.
Home From Home instantly hooked me with its audacious sound, heavy hooks and up tempo songs making this young lad feel like he was experiencing the beginning of a new journey.
Home From Home is really a much fuller sound to anything that Millencolin had experimented with before. From the sloppy demo’s to the pop/punk perfection of
Pennybridge Pioneers,
Home From Home gives the listener a taste of everything, from the fury and fast paced ‘Fingers Crossed’ - which dabbles with tender hooks and silky guitar work – to the almost reggae styled chorus of ‘Punk Rock Rebel’ Millencolin had experimented quite well.
The middle section of the album is really where
Home From Home succeeds the most. ‘Happiness for Dogs’ brings a much darker sound to the table, discussing Nikola’s (the lead singer) drug affected brother. The arrangement of the song brings quite a punch to the listener since if you listen closely to the lyrics you discover the pain and anguish that is being dispersed throughout the song:
“Everyone is not stable,
we all got our ups and downs
They gave you a label
and pills to make you drowse
I do not trust them coz I've seen you fall
What's to discuss
when you almost lost the will to live at all”
Straight after ‘Happiness For Dogs’ is the lead single ‘Battery Check’, which was probably not the best choice for a single, but a catchy song none the less. ‘Battery Check’ is a very up straight, simple and clean cut rock song that is mainly more about the hook then really experimenting with the sound that they are trying to create, which in the end works out fairly solid, yet tends to drag towards the end as the chorus becomes quite repetitive.
Millencolin even have a shot at being “shock, gasp” a political punk band, with the song ‘Afghan.’ While it may not be as high on pace or adrenalin as Anti-Flag or Refused, Millencolin definitely convey their message on the war on terror:
“So now you wanna fight them
The weaker one is always wrong
Yeah now you wanna fight them
A real man's gotta show the world he's strong”
Home From Home is pop/rock and punk and a Millencolin album that just demands to be listened to. While maybe not as strong in content as the previous album,
Pennybridge Pioneers,
Home From Home definitely is a very strong release, mixing the highs and lows of pop/punk and getting the listener hooked after just one listen. Thankfully it was these four Swedish pop/punkers that took me off the MTV planet, and bring me down to earth.
Home From Home is an album I will love forever.
