Punknews.orgPunknews.org Logo
Review Navigator

BackForward

Features

 




Reviews

Epitaph Records -- Millencolin

A while back I was praising Ensign for making a covers album truly worthy of the great songs and bands they were covering. If you’re looking to make a good cover album, follow the blueprint Ensign laid out, or for a different route, just do the exact opposite of what these bands did.

This split had tons of potential; it really could have been great. Just look at the bands these guys were covering: DRI, Judge, Cro-Mags, Inside Out, Agnostic Front, and SOD. The problem is, all they really did with these songs was made them heavier. This reminds me of those pop punk covers of popular songs, where the bands strive so hard to make the songs punk, leaving them as a mere novelty. When I hear these songs, I think “oh...they made SOD moshcore, how cute.” But they have no replay value. Cover songs should have be able to stand along, while also making you appreciate the original song a little more. These songs just don’t accomplish this. Not that they ruin the songs or anything like that, it just seems like they could have saved this stuff for their live show. Recording this serves no real purpose. I’m not going to fault these bands for covering songs of their favorite bands, hey, it’s their record, but they could have done so much more here. The one saving grace, the light at the end of the tunnel if you will, is that the North Side Kings did a cover of the A-Team theme song.

This split is for fans of North Side Kings and Stampin’ Ground, and really no one else. This split isn’t really interesting enough to bring new fans. So in summary, the idea was good, the execution was simply flawed. These two bands probably had a ball recording this, but I can’t say that I’ll listen to it over and over again.






Please login or register to post comments.
What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
  • Share your opinion by posting comments on the stories that interest you
  • Rate music and bands and help shape the weekly top ten
  • Let Punknews.org use your ratings to help you find bands and albums you might like
  • Customize features on the site to get the news the way you want.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, May 8, 2004 at 2:13 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    The North Side Kings are one of the best hardcore bands in Arizona.

    Posted by Steve_Buscemi on 2004-05-06 09:26:53
    My Score:

    take a trip to any mexican ghetto.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 4:53 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I thought the font was old ENGLISH... doesnt sound too Latino to me

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at 8:27 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    ive been into stampin ground for years.

    i'm real disappointed they did a split with these racist twats.

    Posted by Steve_Buscemi on 2004-05-04 17:01:12
    My Score:

    i was referring to the old english-esque font, particularly this one, and the last album jesse reviewed.

    Posted by noreply on 2004-05-04 16:10:15
    My Score:

    how is one half of the american flag mixed with one half of the british flag latino in any way?

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 4, 2004 at 3:29 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    ive seen steve buscemi, and he is definately not hispanic.

    Posted by Steve_Buscemi on 2004-05-04 11:16:00
    My Score:

    i'm getting tired of these latino-esque mafioso album covers.

    (yeah i'm hispanic).

    Posted by boldredletters on 2004-05-04 11:06:10
    My Score:

    More mosh!