Refused's "Songs to Fan the Flame of Discontent" turns 25
REFUSED's second album is by no means what you would call a "flawless classic" or a "10/10". It's not as creative, not as crazy, not as progressive and not as influential as its successor but it's a damn good album in its own right. The band improved a lot over the gruff and totally average Hardcore-Punk they played the years before and I always loved the imagination of them going with that sound instead of revolutionizig Hardcore with "The Shape of Punk to come".
That being said "Songs to Fan the Flame of Discontent" is pretty forward thinking stuff for a '96-Hardcore-record. REFUSED relied on heavy, metallic HC/Punk with lots of groove, lots of Mosh, lots of Chugs and lots of rhythm. This sounded like nothing else in the Mid-90ies but if I would need to come up with a comparison I'd say that this settles somehow between early SNAPCASE and QUICKSAND. I always loved the production as it's just to the point and the Mosh-parts remain one of the best ever to me. Dennis Lyxzen already proved to be a charismatic lead singer, that was able to add his own to a song. "Songs to Fan the Flame of Discontent" is the complete opposite of its successor in terms of variety as it's just one huge slap in the face for 30 minutes long. But that is the beauty of this record. It's pure, it's punishing and it's coherent. On top of that: With all the great songs featured on their '98-Masterpiece, "Rather be dead" remains my favourite of theirs.
I already posted this video a few times but I think you can't spin it enough. So, enjoy!
Doughnuts, auf Victory Records damals, klingen schon etwas ähnlich und ja Snapcase, Helmet (Einfluss?).
ReplyDeleteDoughnuts - oft gelesen, oft gelobt und ich kenn das Album auch, aber fands nie so gut wie andere.
ReplyDeleteJa, bei Helmet stimm ich dir zu. Helmet & Quicksand waren sicher die beiden Haupteinflüsse für Refused in dieser Zeit, da das Material davor ja noch ganz anders klang und dann kamen "Slip" & "Meantime", die im Hardcore allgemein viel verändert haben...
Kann man hier auch Wünsche äußern haha. Schreib mal was über Fear Before The March Of Flames.
ReplyDeleteHaha fix. Das Debüt müsste nächstes Jahr 20 Jahre werden, dann gerne ;-) - im Moment ist die Seite sowieso tot, das Leben hat mich vor 2 Monaten total eingeholt und ich befürchte das wird den Sommer so weitergehen.
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