Track Listing

1. Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull
2. Liberation Frequency
3. Deadly Rhythm
4. Summerholidays vs. Punkroutine
5. Bruitist Pome #5
6. New Noise
7. Refused Party Program
8. Protest Song '68
9. Refused Are Fuckin Dead
10. Shape of Punk to Come
11. Tannh�user/Deriv�
12. Apollo Programme Was a Hoax

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31661 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-27
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com's Best of 1998
If not the album of the year, it's at least the punk-rock album of the year, fiercely representing a musical ethos that has suffered the ignominious shame of commercial popularity. "We want the airwaves back!" shrieks singer (if you can use that word) Dennis, and over the course of The Shape of Punk to Come's 12 sonically stunning tracks, they reclaim the right to rage, rant, and innovate. The Refused broke up soon after recording this album, but they've left behind an invigorating manifesto. --Tod Nelson

Amazon.com
It's a ballsy move to claim you're reinventing a musical genre that has been slogging along quite happily for more than two decades, but the Refused back up their chutzpah with an absolutely awe-inspiring and fearless slab of musical mayhem. The Shape of Punk to Come is nothing short of a punk-rock manifesto. Hardcore pathos is merely the foundation for their architecture: upon that they build an edifice of political expression with a take-no-prisoners approach to the search for artistic meaning and a musical liberation that includes elements of speedcore, free jazz, electronica, lo-fi, and absolutely no pop. Politics, art, and music merge into one monolithic whole. The disc starts with the spoken epigraph, "They told me that the classics never go out of style, but they do, they do," followed by a swirling mess of noise that finally jells into the last undiscovered thunderous riff of "Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull." The song stutters, then speeds along, skips, pauses, then rolls. They follow that with the groovy Gang of Four metronomic punch of "Liberation Frequency." When vocalist Dennis sings, "We want the airwaves back" in a sweet falsetto that belies his ability to deliver a screech not unlike a bull alligator clearing its throat, you believe this band isn't going to gently rise up the Billboard charts; they'd rather storm the ramparts. Unfortunately, when the band writes a song called "The Refused Are Fuckin' Dead," they aren't kidding around: the band broke up before the release of Shape. Let's hope enough people hear this album to kick-start the revolution. --Tod Nelson

Customer Reviews

Potent punk, with sonic adventurism to match
I decided to download "The Shape Of Punk To Come" completely on a whim, based solely on the rave reviews I saw on this site. To put it mildly, my decision was vindicated. "The Shape Of Punk To Come" is one of those rare albums that both blow you away upon first listen and then get better with time. It's loosely classifiable as punk, but you certainaly don't need to be a punk fan to enjoy it. Nirvana, schmirvana: Kurt Cobain wouldn't have put out an album this diverse and genre-bending if he had lived to be a million.

I can't even put into words how powerful this album is, how much visceral impact it contains, how much utter steamrolling FORCE it hits you with. Dennis Lyxzen's vocals are often pure venom, the guitars pummel you relentlessly, and David Sandstrom's drumming hits harder than a brick dropped from the top of the Empire State Building. Listening to this album, it's obvious how much energy and conviction was put into each and every song. This is music without rules, without reservations, and without apology. I'd love to play it for the 98-pound, Good Charlotte T-shirt-wearing "punks" I see at the mall just to see the looks on their faces.

What's even more important than anything I've said above, though, is that Refused were intelligent and methodical about their sonic destruction. As its title suggests, "The Shape Of Punk To Come" is a punk album in the truest sense of the word: it's harsh, it's abrasive, and it's rooted in a deep sense of antagonism toward the mainstream. While all that's nice, it doesn't make for a classic album on its own. Fortunately, there's a lot more to "The Shape Of Punk To Come" than stereotypical three-chord, two-minute testosterone fests. Thanks to a level of creativity and musicianship high for any genre but stunning for punk, Refused showed a keen aptitude for composing memorable and interesting songs.

While suffering from no shortage of punkish aggression, this album is also filled to the brim with intense metallic heaviness, and Refused also threw in a few other genres just for good measure. Songs like "Worms Of The Sense/Faculties Of The Skull," "Protest Song '68," and "Refused Are F***in Dead" boast jarring, angular structures that could make a guy with no neck bang his head, but that's not all. The album is filled with melodic, ambient, and even jazzy interludes, providing a nice contrast from the mayhem that's often on display. "Liberation Frequency," my personal favorite, starts out with Dennis's subdued mantra of "We Want The Airwaves Back," and then a barrage of paralyzing shrieks and piercing guitar noise comes out of nowhere. The resulting dynamic is so dramatic you may well need a neck brace after hearing it for the first time. In a strangely fitting move, the band decided to close out the album with an acoustic song, the oddly-titled "The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax." After the insane roller coaster ride preceding it, I kind of like hearing a calmer piece that ends everything on a mellow note.

Listening to these guys, I can't help but think about how tragic it is that they broke up so early, not to mention how tragic it is that I just discovered them about three months ago. Unfortunately bands like Refused are too good to be on the radio, but this is what punk should be. No, scratch that, this is what MUSIC should be: inventive, challenging, uncompromising, and unconcerned with the opinions of the masses. The loss of a band like Refused truly is a loss for music.

An aggressive, challenging album.
Metal riffs and vocals? Techno beats? Seven minute songs? That's not punk!

My first introduction to Refused was seeing the video for "New Noise" on MTV's 120 minutes. For the first minute and a half I thought I was watching a bad techno video.

Then the guitars kicked in and Dennis squealed "can I scream?" and well, I had to change my undies and pick my jaw up off of the floor.

If you're wondering about the style of music, think of Drive Like Jehu teaming up with Unsane and playing Helmet covers next door to a techno club.

I think it must be said that this band DOES owe a sizable creative debt, as it's been mentioned before, to Nation Of Ulysses, for those of you not in the know, NOU was a D.C. hardcore band on the Dischord label in the early 90's and had peers in the burgeoning post-hardcore scene in Fugazi and Jawbox, and released the albums "13 Point Plan To Destroy America," and "...Plays Pretty For Baby." Refused have a lot in common with NOU both in their lyrics (though NOU were less political than Refused) and in the manifesto-style presentation of their music.

Interesting side-note: members of NOU went on to form the Make-Up, which applied their D.C. style punk to soul music, while Dennis of Refused formed the similarily styled International Noise Conspiracy.

It should also be mentioned that in the manifesto printed in the liner notes, the text accompianing "Refused are f***ing dead" are almost verbatim lyrics from the Born Against song "Born Against are f***ing dead."

You could give flak to Refused for borrowing so much from Born Against and Nation of Ulysses, but I'm sure it was done in a sincere tribute to both of those bands, and not a rip-off. I might also add that Nation Of Ulysses and Born Against are two of my very favorite bands ever, and all three bands shared a similar goal: to shake up the stale punk rock scene.

Of course none of these bands really succeeded, for the current punk scene is still rife with NOFX and Screeching Weasel clones, but Refused, NOU and Born Against albums all sell very well by hardcore standards, and will influence punk kids for years to come, I'm sure. Maybe if we're lucky in a few years we'll begin to see the changes these bands wanted to see.

Besides, they could have gone ahead and (shudder) aped the Korn/Limp Bizkit style of rap-metal.

All in all, this is a very good album filled with heavy energetic music, and is well worth what you'll pay for it. Do yourself a favor, though, if you like this, be sure to pick up both Nation Of Ulysses albums on Dischord and both Born Against albums on Vermiform to pick up where Refused were coming from

CAN I SCREAM!!?
Now THIS is punk! I know, I know, REAL punk, as defined by the Ramones, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, etc., has been "dead" for quite some time now, and all these pathetic groups that think they're rebels just because they dye their hair weird colors are driving rusty nails into punk's coffin, however...

...REAL punk is truly about being rebellious from the norm. REAL punk bands aren't that well-known (at least at the time--so many people in the '70's had a clue who the Ramones were at first). REAL punk is often politically outspoken.

And here, Refused have--or rather, HAD--all these traits. Led by Dennis Lyxzen (now fronting the [International] Noise Conspiracy), Refused wrote songs about anything from how history books lie (their famous song, "Burn It"), to how they themselves were making a difference in the music world. Just...look at some lyrics online. You'll see what I mean.

Now, for their absolute musical talents.

The subtitle to this CD is "A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts." This is so simply the truth. Here we have songs ranging from (actually talented) straight-out hardcore ("New Noise," one of my favorites), jazz-influenced ("Liberation Frequency" and "The Deadly Rhythm"-on this latter one, just listen to the bridge of the song! Pure jazz!), and often bordering on...techno (like on the latter half of the first track, "Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull," as well as "Brutist Pome #5").

Dennis Lyxzen has quite a range of vocals in his voice; from unbelievably hardcore screams that put all the new "screamo" bands to pure shame, to spoken-word, to falsetto-pitched melodies. This guy is very talented. Again, for more, check out some of his work with the (International) Noise Conspiracy.

Kristofer Steen and Jon Brannstrom: two guitarists that, while they obviously know quite a few things on playing the strings, don't overdo it or rub it in your face. They can be heavy, they can be soft, they play acoustic, electric, whatever!

Magnus Bjorklund, a very talented bassist. He helps pull in some more of the jazzier parts, especially on said bridge of "The Deadly Rhythm," where he plays a standing bass.

...and then there's David Sandstrom, drummer extraordinaire. He can do it all: jazzy, quieter parts; loud, snare-heavy abominations of noise. He's so damn fast, he's...UGH! LISTEN TO THIS MAN PLAY!

Sadly, Refused broke up in 1999, less than a year after completing this album, which to me is their absolute magnum opus. Raid Amazon and your local used stores for this band's music! Other notable albums to get include EVERLASTING, SONGS TO FAN THE FLAMES OF DISCONTENT, and the EP released in conjunction with this album, the NEW NOISE E.P.

CAN I SCREAM!!?