Everybody Needs A Swede!
Remember this sprightly number from The Lorax ( replace ‘Swede’ with ‘Thneed’), well this is the punky and funky equivalent. It is a holler from the heart my friends, in these most fraught and fractious of times that we are living in. Our Swedish cousins Refused are back with an almighty bang, stand by your beds folks, the cavalry’s here. There have been a multitude of artists who have given their take on life and all it brings, Refused have a glow unlike any other. A little cabaret, sashay mes amis as we shimmy through ‘Rev 001’ which belies the seriousness and unflinching nerves of steel cry for a revolution. A desire for a complete overhaul and a time to jettison the garbage that has contaminated our minds, it is a time for change.
Singer Dennis Lyxzén is a fire breathing dragon, his larynx is aflame, his vocal cords torn to their very core in a desperate attempt to highlight the truth, the one thing that eludes us. Refused have always run ahead of the pack, and again they are light years in front of their peers.
The recurrent theme is one of suffering and loss, an ode to those less fortunate. There is a fearless two- finger message directed at the powers that be, those with the ability to change the imbalance, but won’t bother their pretty little asses. I sense hope amongst the death throes of ‘I Wanna Watch The World Burn’ as we learn that ‘what we lost in the fire, we will find in the ashes’, a cleansing of sorts is needed to rebuild and reconnect with everything that has been lost. There’s a stunning refrain at 1.38, revenge, my love, it knows no bounds. ‘Malfire’ has the stark imagery of walking barefoot through the devastation, a worrying reminder of how we could lose it all in the blink of an eye. People that have been displaced is an everyday occurrence now, we seem to have become immune to it all, ‘they came on boats, the came on land, alone and scared with empty hands’, frighteningly accurate.
The band ‘Turn The Cross’ and armed with blowtorches continue to brûlée your eyeballs, with a ferocious ‘lets shove those fuckers out the door’, oh please let’s do that. More words to enlighten us in ‘Damaged III’ as we realise we ‘fit the mold presented as our fate’ and we are introduced to the four horsemen of the our current apocalypse namely ‘violence, war, abuse, deception’ of course there are many others that fit the bill. We suffer a ‘Death In Vȁnnȁs’ whilst succumbing to ‘hopelessly hopeless traditions when you’re hoping for something new’ and discovering that only through forsaking certain aspects of our life can we be truly free.
Each song here contains a battle cry, it is a perpetual state of rising up and holding those in power accountable. The staggeringly mind-blowing ‘Economy Of Death’ closes the record and tells us what we already know, ‘the working class is betrayed’. With its portentous outro ‘you’re so fucked’, it will haunt you forever and beyond.
Open your eyes, my friends, it’s time. Unfuckwithable.
Refused – War Music out now via Spinefarm Records