Swedish-based skate punks Millencolin are back with their ninth studio album over a 27-year long career. With most skate rock dropping away in the past few years, is this welcome nostalgia or will we wish they’d hang up their decks?
Sounding more like a US-based skate rock band than…well, most US-based skate rock bands, Millencolin have been doing this a long time. This is no bad thing though. Leaping straight into a track that would be right at home on Tony Hawk Playstation game (and yes, I’m recalling my childhood here) comes title track, “SOS”. It’s a blistering power chord fest – exactly what you’d expect from any skate rock band if we’re honest. Plenty of clean, overdriven guitars, and going very fast. Close your eyes and you’ll be able to see a very pixelated pro-skater trying to land impossible tricks on a CRT TV. If you can’t, you might have memories of telling your child to get off the TV or to turn it down instead. For the next couple of tracks, it’s much the same, instrumentally. Lots of fast strumming, plenty of palm-muted rhythms to keep vocals audible in the verses. Save from ALL the lyrics from needing to be shouted, this isn’t to say everything literally sounds the same.
“Nothing” might retain the same pace and guitar style, but the lyrics are far darker. The song tells the story of an older guy, drinking and popping pills to distract himself from the disappointment he feels he’s become. Of course, if you’re too busy jumping around with an air guitar to give it a full listen, there’s no judgement here. Speaking of jumping around with an air guitar, “Sour Days” has a duelling riff that sounds like it was literally built for it. It’s easy to see how these Swedish rockers managed to host their own festival and, with a back catalogue of over 25 years, headline both nights.
Having started a few years before many of the better known ‘skate rock’ bands such as Sum 41, The Offspring and NOFX, Millencolin have an influence that reaches far and wide across the genre. In “Do You Want War”, you’d think that you were listening to Blink-182 (if it weren’t for the lack of nasal Tom DeLonge vocals), replete with complex drum riff and more melodic distorted guitar. In the more Canadian vein of influence, “Trumpets and Poutine” is far closer to Sum 41’s sound from their Chuck album. Sum 41 may no longer be with us, but their sound lives on – fittingly through one of their own influencers. Their overall recipe for songs may not have changed in all the years they’ve been together – but if it ain’t broke…
The band isn’t totally without current social zeitgeist however. They’ve even managed to name a track after the recent internet phenomenon, Yanny & Laurel. Using the confusing vocal sample as a point of reference in the song’s furious breakdown, the band attacks aspects of social media and modern life. It’s not all skateparks and girlfriends. Neither is it doom, gloom and angst either, that’s never been what skate rock is about.
Perhaps the best example here comes from “Let It Be”. As a great example of what the genre should be seen as, the band takes aim at the political climate, overarching woes and negativity in general. Instead they preach to leave it alone and preach positivity – as it’s simply not something they always want to worry about. There’s nothing too new, too innovative or ground-breaking in the album, not that it’s a bad thing. Millencolin have outlasted nearly every band in their ballpark (or skatepark if you want the pun). This is due to their ability to keep their sound, but also mature with it; at no point do they sound infantile or outdated. It’s just a damn good album.
Author: Steve, Chiswick store
