For Monkeys

CD Cover Millencolin
Epitaph

Review by Michael O'Donahue



45-second excerpt from "Boring Planet" (various formats)


Songs about being young, bored and disappointed, played in that inimitable So-Cal Epitaph Rock fashion. So what's different about Millencolin? That they have a bit of Green Day in the delivery and hail from Sweden? Is that enough? This is pretty much modern-punk-by-numbers with fast tempos, pristinely distorted guitars, shout-along choruses and a touch of ska thrown in for good measure. Not new, not really any different -- but they ARE young Swedes, playing with the conviction of True Believers, and I suppose that must count for something.

There IS something here, though. Maybe it's the line in the chorus from "Boring Planet": "Boring planet cause no one here is rocking," or the self-deprecating humour of a song like "Puzzle": "Third album, less of ska and not so many fast ones / More of poppy, pushy songs, those that we do best now." Maybe. But whatever it is that makes these guys strangely likable, For Monkeys is still a pretty average record.


Artist Contact Info: 2798 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90026 USA




First published in Drop-D Magazine on February 22, 1998

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