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Epitaph Records -- Millencolin

Division Of Laura Lee has always been the ugly stepsister to Epitaph's garage-rock Cinderellas, The Hives and The (International) Noise Conspiracy. DOLL doesn't have the attitude and swagger of the Hives, nor the pedigree and intensity of T(I)NC. Both bands have moved up to the big leagues, whereas DOLL still is trying to make an impact on US soil. With Das Not Compute, hopefully they can make a little progress.

Now the preceeding paragraph is kind of misleading - Division Of Laura Lee, while sharing many of the same influences as their counterparts listed above, is not necessarily a garage rock band per se. The songs on this disc are musically deeper than "Hate To Say I Told You So" or "Up For Sale" - this Swedish quartet makes interesting use of fuzzy bass, reverberant, dirty guitar, eerie keyboard and soulful organ on some of the album's better tracks like "Endless Factories" and "Breathe Breathe" as well as the hidden track after closer "There's A Last Time For Everything." When all of these elements fuse together, you get some surprisingly dancable tunes like "We Are Numbers" as well. It's a pleasant surprise.

Division Of Laura Lee has grown into themselves since 2002's Black City, scrapping some of the failed ambitiousness on that disc for a more solid sophomore effort in Das Not Compute. There's some solid songwriting going on here that makes repeated listens enjoyable. DOLL's fresh perspective on the already flogged-to-death genre of garage rock is worth a listen, if just to get a little Radiohead with your Hives.

MP3s
Does Compute
To The Other Side

Stream four songs here



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    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, September 7, 2005 at 8:59 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Because DOLL share a label with other more famous bands, play fuzzed rockn'roll music and are from Sweden they will never win the hearts and minds of retarded reviewers who make these connections as if DOLL was just another garage rock clone band. This album was amoung my top 5 for 2004. This is some of the moodiest, smoothest and innovative rockn'roll to come out in over a decade and North American reviewers just gloss over it time and time again with the stupidest comparisons. It's like you all keep plagerizing each other and don't actually listen to the record.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, June 29, 2004 at 2:19 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I think this album is very good. I don't see why the reviewer has to compare them to other Burning Heart bands - how about just an obkective review on the disc? Ah well.

    Personally, I think it is great.

    Posted by xWileyx on 2004-05-17 21:42:36
    My Score:

    I think i liked 97-99 than all of they're stuff on Epitaph its not as over produced and has alot more energy..but this is OK.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, May 15, 2004 at 10:37 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    metal???

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 14, 2004 at 2:24 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    metal sucks

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 13, 2004 at 9:32 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    "where did you download the refused show from??"

    From soulseek. You can get it from me: LeMAD. (enter me in your list of friends then browse my files)

    Posted by FrankieGrimes on 2004-05-12 15:13:49
    My Score:

    Annoying and goes nowhere. Even worse than their last record.

    Posted by sizzla on 2004-05-12 14:58:55
    My Score:

    Man, if you guys are right about how ugly the lead singer man is i think i will pass on checking this album out. Its all about the looks.

    - Seez-luh

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 12, 2004 at 10:51 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    where did you download the refused show from??

    Posted by ElVaquero on 2004-05-12 03:05:15
    My Score:

    I think scott would agree with you.

    I have their first album. It's a good one.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at 10:29 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    The reviewr is a fucking idiot. I love the Hives but they have about an eigth of the originality of DOLL. The (I)NC is sometimes a great band but their live show is just really phony feeling. I just saw them recently in CHicago at the bottom loung and they rolled in with their huge tour bus, and signs/banners on the stage. Matching leather jackets with red gay pirate looking shirts underneath. THERE WERE MAYBE 300 PEOPLE THERE, TOPS. DOLL is way more consistent than either band, too bad the singer looks like a fucking ape.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at 9:43 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Speaking of T(I)NC, i've just downloaded a video of a Refused show in a small irish bar, and it has to be the most fantastic show i've ever seen...

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 at 5:17 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Their singer is the fugliest mofo ive ever seen, music is okay though, nothing special.

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