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Epitaph Records -- Millencolin

Chris Collohan's past bands include Left For Dead, Ruination, and the Swarm (AKA Knee Deep In The Dead), and his newest band Cursed definitely has the most evil and powerful sound of them all. The first CD, One, was a brutal onslaught, like being hit in the head with a fucking sledge hammer. With such brutal speedfests such as "Polygraph" and "Pariah," and the epic and flawless song "Opposable Thumbs." Now they have released what could very well be one of the best hardcore albums of the decade.

Musically, the band tends to sound like an extremely sped up His Hero Is Gone/Tragedy, or a slightly slower and much more talented version of the Havoc Records band Destroy. Thrashy, crusty, and definitely powerful, this band sounds like pure rage and agression.

Lyrically, Collohan is pure genius, the lyrics tend to be brutal and violent, but the violent imagery is used to describe social/political problems, such as these lyrics to the song "The Void:" "And when he dies alone with nothing in hand, burned out shell of a working man, when he dies alone with empty hands...". Or these lyrics to the song that was also released on seven inch vinyl, "Hell Comes Home:" "Welcome home in a bodybag from the front lines of defeat, discharged to a normal life in a room that's two feet wide and six feet deep."

Standout tracks are "Fatalist," "The Void," "Head Of The Baptist," "Hell Comes Home," and Model Home Invasion," which is a slow and ballady sort of song. My one gripe was that it seems that my CD had all of the tracks moved up by one, with the intro track being the 11th one, but the quality of the songs more than makes up for this technical gaffe. II should definitely be on everyone's top releases of 2005 list.



People who liked this also liked:
Converge - Jane DoeConverge - No HeroesRefused - The Shape of Punk to ComeThe Lawrence Arms - The Greatest Story Ever ToldIsis - PanopticonThis Is Hell - SundowningAFI - DecemberundergroundChampion / Betrayed - SplitIgnite - Our Darkest DaysSinking Ships - Disconnecting



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    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at 10:25 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    woooo they are playing leeds on march 3rd, can't fucking wait.

    Posted by tristan on 2005-02-12 12:44:16
    My Score:

    I'm henceforth ass over tea kettle, thanks to this.

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-26 21:34:26
    My Score:

    Whoa!

    You guys changed to calling it Two instead of II on the sidebar thing...that messes with me head!

    Posted by punkcorekid on 2005-01-26 17:30:00
    My Score:

    still haven't heard them, and i've heard nothing but praise...need to check it out soon.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 3:06 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    bad brains self titled ends with the "intro" (not counting the unlisted dub track). maybe it's a tribute?

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-26 09:51:43
    My Score:

    I'd have also compared it to Left For Dead and The Swarm, which would have been slightly more accurate because basically this sounds like those bands with more talent and better production, but I figured that more people knew of HHIG and Tragedy than know of Left For Dead and The Swarm so it was easier to get a basic picture in people's minds.

    Posted by dazed on 2005-01-26 06:46:14
    My Score:

    I liked the Swarm; I like the bands you compared them to; I'm gonna have to check this out.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 12:59 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    hey, guess what, that's a reason for them to rerelease the album later on

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-25 23:10:57
    My Score:

    The intro is at the end of the album?!

    Wow, that's just messed up.

    -Chinatown

    It is, I e-mailed goodfellow about it, I was like,

    " Is this a...

    rarity?
    intention?
    wide-spread mistake?"

    Their response was:
    "what it is, is a nightmare"

    I guess you can just pretend that it's an outro now...

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 10:36 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    The intro is at the end of the album?!

    Wow, that's just messed up.

    -Chinatown

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 9:49 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    nice work

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 5:02 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Score is for Ruination, and Michigan Hardcore/Punk.

    -Ken

    P.S. will be checking this out asap.

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-25 16:33:59
    My Score:

    BTW thaks to the editor for making me sound smarter, I know for sure that I didn't use the word "gaffe" when I wrote this review.

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-25 14:14:53
    My Score:

    everything collohan touches is genious. rumopur has it he is writing a book as well. he also did a band called countdown to oblivion as well.

    That's one I've not actually heard yet. Someone mentioned them to me though.

    I think I tried to soulseek it though.

    But yeah, all his bands are pure awesomeness.

    Posted by FortyMinutesWest on 2005-01-25 12:50:27
    My Score:

    Lots of good stuff coming out early this, I hope this trend continues.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 12:00 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    everything collohan touches is genious. rumopur has it he is writing a book as well. he also did a band called countdown to oblivion as well.

    Posted by bizzlebrizzle on 2005-01-25 09:46:45
    My Score:

    By the way, I get to see them this Spring Break while I'm in London.

    Posted by johnnydanger on 2005-01-25 01:28:33
    My Score:

    band is awesome, record is awesome

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 1:08 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    this band is as heavy as a thousand pounds of ice cream

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 12:59 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    this is the shit

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 12:57 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    A lollypop to the first person who doesnt compare metal bands to construction equipment in there review.

    -!!GreenVandal!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 at 12:43 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    i just ordered the first record. guess i should pick this one up too.

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