It’s been four years, but Swedish skate punks Millencolin are back with their ninth studio album SOS released February 15th through Epitaph Records. After being a band for over 26 years, the men have built themselves a rock solid reputation to uphold. Whereas for other long-running bands consistency in performance throughout the years might be difficult, Millencolin have managed to stay perfectly consistent. Perhaps a little too much so.
The album’s title track and first single ‘SOS’ - though a strong up-tempo anthem - bears strong resemblance to Millencolin’s older material such as 2000’s Pennybridge Pioneers. Throughout the album these resemblances keep popping up, with most instrumentals and vocal lines sounding distinctively Millencolin.
Whether this continuation in sound throughout their career is a positive – the band still delivers the same gritty intensity as decades ago without sounding forced – or a negative – new releases don’t exceed expectations or push boundaries – is for fans to decide, but there’s no denying Millencolin is still delivering solid punk tracks.
Despite its consistency SOS does have its ups and downs. In terms of songwriting there’s a couple of tracks on the album that have interesting subjects and lyrical twists such as ‘Caveman’s Land’, which focusses on hatred towards immigrants and criticises territoriality, and ‘Yanny and Laurel’, based on the 2018 internet craze, talking about the stupidity of mankind. Other songs, such as ‘SOS’ and the albums third single ‘Sour Days’, are less lyrically detailed, leaving us with a more generic critique of humanity in the current state of the world.
With SOS, the Swedes succeeded in creating a solid punk record that stands strong in 2019. Although the sound isn’t unexpected and the album won’t stand out much from the rest of Millencolin’s catalogue, SOS is a welcome release and will undoubtedly be appreciated by punk fans all around.
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