Review Summary: Refused are fucking dead :(
With the seemingly never-ending tension going on between the band mates, Refused's final record was at the pinnacle of their career. Years removed from when they wrote mediocre hardcore punk songs, The Shape Of Punk To Come was something so extraordinary and breathtaking all in the same instance. This album is a compilation of the band letting out their anger on each other with each thunderous beat and a summation of their hearts poured out and every ounce of energy exasperated.
Refused are the father's of hardcore punk as we know it today. They started what can be sought as a musical revolution that influenced a generation of musicians, lyricists, and revolutionists. It is hard to describe how ground breaking The Shape Of Punk To Come was for music in general because certain bands performing today could reference this album as being their motivation. It went beyond expectations and crapped on most releases within the genre at the time. The guitar work is nothing complicated, but thick, lush, and spine-tingling. The drumming creating a most intimidating atmosphere. The bass guitar sludging away, but also craftily plucking upright bass riffs. The vocals are not only inspirational, but truly emotional. Dennis Lyxzen's vocals are simply brilliant. But the individual aspects of the album are hardly what make The Shape Of Punk To Come so perfect.
From the opening poem to the final acoustic guitar strum, The Shape Of Punk To Come is a work of art. Each song complimenting one another with some of the best guitar riffs that I've ever heard. The amount diversity of the guitar work in "Worms Of The Senses/Faculties Of The Skull" is enough to get excited over. But "Worms Of The Senses/Faculties Of The Skull" is only a fraction of the album. Going off on a small tangent, The Shape Of Punk To Come was certainly an album that transformed punk music, but more importantly was the key ideas spoken throughout the album. Capitalism and politics.
From the beginning, Lyxzen 'subtly' speaks about Capitalism like in "Refused Party Program" which begins, 'Capitalism is, indeed, organized crime, and we're all the victims.' With that begins the afterthought that perhaps Refused weren't trying to change the sound of punk music, but rather the movement towards revolutionary ideals through songs. Granted, the music is something else with each cleverly crafted song ("The Deadly Rhythm," "The Shape Of Punk To Come," "New Noise," and "Tannhäuser / Derivè" among the entire album), but the thoughts and imagery is more important. The Shape Of Punk To Come is more than just epic sound, it's an epic idea. The soundtrack to that idea isn't half bad either. It's too bad that this will be the last defining soundtrack by Refused.
It's too bad, Refused are f
ucking dead, but their ideas are still living.
