Millencolin – Kingwood

Its been a long time since we last heard from these Swedish punk kings. Too long in fact. The last release we saw from Millencolin was their 2002 release, Home From Home (not counting bassist/vocalist Nikola Sarcevic’s solo album Lock-Sport-Krock). So when they finally announced that Kingwood was being release, people were immediately pumped; and they have good reason to be pumped.

Straight from the opening kick of Farewell My Hell you know Millencolin hasn’t lost a thing and that this album will be mind blowing. The songs are quick, harsh and powerful while keeping a melodic punk rock feel to it making the listener want to grab the lyrics sheet and sing along with Sarcevic’s strong, but slightly worn, vocals. The beats are energizing, with chorus that make you want to tap your foot and throw your fist in the air singing along (like I say it’s fear, it’s fear, for all what’s queer. If it’s strange we panic, yeah we won’t go near! – Cash Or Clash). But they don’t keep the tempo up at full blast the entire time and slow it downs with songs like Shut You Out and Novo. But the tempo changes don’t hurt the album, make it more diverse and they are always able to kick it right back up with tracks like Biftek Supernova, Ray and Simple Twist Of Hate.

Lyrically, Sarvevic is quite impressive on Kingwood as he sings about cash, believing in yourself, not being afraid to change, and not being controlled by random corporations. But he also goes in a complete circle and sings about suicide, breaking down, abandoning your friends when they need you most and more. Each separate topic adds a little extra depth to the already powerful album.

After hearing Kingwood, there’s no wondering as to why Millencolin have sold nearly two millions albums to date, and you can only expect to see that number go higher. It encompasses everything a punk release should be. Solid, truthful, catchy, energizing, and just all around amazing.