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Adhesive

Sideburner (1996)
Ampersand

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Contributed by: Paul Ferraro
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Published on April 17th 2001

It seems Swedish punk bands never fail to dissapoint me. Well, the ones that are good enough to have their music released on this side of the Atlantic, that is. Adhesive has never had an album released through Epitaph, and is not signed to either of the two biggest Swedish independant labels, Burning Heart of Bad Taste, but in fact is on an the smaller Swedish label Ampersand Records. It seems odd to me that it's easier to find Adhesive albums than many Bad Taste releases.

Sideburner is the first of three albums (up to 2001) for Adheisve. Imagine if Bad Religion had hailed from Sweden instead of southern California, and you have something close to the sound of this album. That's not to say that Sideburner is anywhere near as good as Against the Grain, but it's not a bad album either. High speed music, clean, catchy vocals, simple but effective guitar riffs, and just the right amount of backup vocals.

The main thing that bugs me about the album is the recording. It's not poorly done, it just seems to take something away from the music. The songs on the album are well written with good lyrics and full of energy, but come out sounding kind of flat. This is just my opinion though...it's quite possible another music fan may think the sound lends itself perfectly to the type of music played.

Want to hear another complaint I have? Well, too bad, you're going to hear it anyway. On this album, Adhesive picks one style, and sticks to it. They don't show the diversity shown in later albums. But, hey, this is punk rock! What's you expect?

Check out the Adhesive website, and download some free songs. If it's your style, I highly recommend their other two albums, From Left to Right (1998) and We Got The Beat (2000). If you're an Adhesive fan already, you can't go wrong with this CD. Thirteen tracks of straight-ahead punk rock, with no slowing down. Rock on Sweden!

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FAST_ED (May 10, 2006)

I've had this record since 1999, and it still has relavance in my CD player now in 2006. I listen to these songs at least once a month. Good shit. I highly reccomend this record to anybody who likes fast melodic hard edged punk rock with good vocal harmonies (ie: A Wilhelm Scream, Strung Out, Bigwig, Lagwagon)

Anonymous (January 7, 2005)

I like the swedish side of rock these days, fast, aggressive, and they actually know their politics!

Anonymous (February 7, 2004)

This is one of swedish melodycore masterpiece off all time! Nuff said! best band who ever existed

Anonymous (July 17, 2003)

Adhesive is a solid band. Nothing else to say. Solid.

Anonymous (August 10, 2001)

This, the first fullenght album from old timers Adhesive, was actually released in 1996 in Europe. Thanks to One Foot Records Sideburner hit the streets of Canada and the States some two or three years later. It´s not hard to understand why this record has inspired many people. The music is filled with harmonies, but still aggressive and with an edge. The lyrics, something of a trademark for Adhesive, is brilliant. Who hasn´t sang along to lines of "Nothing Is Won"
-"Peel your eyes, Pretend it´s nothing, Subjugated and devestated, So what if our voices will be deprived, Open your ears open your minds, Can´t you see that the doors are shut, Re-Create, Overthrow, Can´t you see they are men and we´re mice-"
This is a classic piece of swedish punk, whick should appeal to everyone.
Koozo

punky (April 24, 2001)

I like adhesive because they havbe something to say.Plus they are not on any of the two labels that you might think they would be.Their music is somewhere in between satanic surfers, ten foot pole, pulley,bad religion but there also some punk rawk.I recommed that you go to their site and download some mp3s...if you like those bands above, you are gonna like Adhesive.