Various Artists The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated

When Refused released The Shape of Punk to Come in October of 1998 (and disbanded shortly after its release), the album title seemed more a guess than prophetic. The immediate reception left little indication that a young hardcore band from Sweden would write the blueprint for an entire genre moving forward, let alone usher in a new one. The album’s influence has been discussed at length. Recorded in only six weeks in late 1997, the album served as the band’s final middle finger to the scene that raised it, cast it aside, then ultimately enshrined it.

It seems only fitting that the album that obliterated the band back in ‘98 before launching them posthumously into the pantheon of hardcore gets the tribute treatment before the band’s final farewell tour. To pay the album the respect it deserves, Refused tapped a wide range of older and newer artists, with varying, eclectic styles also represented.

Newcomers like Gel, Ho99o9, Brutus, and Zulu(!) bring new stylistic arrangements to the classic songs every hardcore kid from the previous generation knows by heart. Meanwhile, scene stalwarts like Quicksand, Snapcase, Cult of Luna, and Fucked Up pay homage in a way that shows the utmost respect to their peers who challenged them to push their boundaries.

While the entire album is a phenomenal exercise in nostalgia, I found myself gravitating more towards the covers that deviated from the original sound; an outcome which seemed to be the goal from the very start. From Refused:

"We asked a bunch of artists we love and respect to actually take liberties with the songs and either rearrange or deconstruct the material completely, to take the engine apart essentially and not be precious about it. And they weren't. To us this is the only tribute to our record that matters: heroes of ours, young guns as well as old friends and peers complimenting our music by uncovering new possibilities and new meaning within it. These bands are all caviar for the general and we are honored they took time to be a part of this. Thank you all."

All that to say, as much as I love the band, you know what Quicksand covering “Liberation Frequency” is going to sound like. Credit to the bands that took the risk on these classic anthems and dissected them in new and creative ways. The last thing the world needed was an exact replica of a perfect album; a re-imagining provides much more fitting tribute to the album that punched a hole in tradition. 

Old heads will light up to see Snapcase's cover of “Summer Holidays Vs. Punkroutine”, and rightfully so given the band is largely inactive. Still, compared to the creativity of Brutus' take on "The Deadly Rhythm" or Cold Cave's "Refused Are Fucking Dead", one can't help but smile and behold the obvious impact Refused has had on the next/current/young/new generation of acts who themselves are carving out their own creative niche within the genre. How can we expect anyone to listen if we are using the same old voice?

Nowhere is the new beat more significant than on Cult of Luna's interpretation of “Tannhäuser / Derivè” and New Jersey rap-punk duo Ho99o9's blistering cover of “New Noise”, the song largely credited with catapulting the band (and album) to infamy all those years ago. You get the feeling Refused revel in the fact that the majority of punk purists will reject this obvious nose-thumbing of the band's biggest single, completely missing (or willfully ignoring) the entire message of the song (and the entire album for that matter). 

Despite the unconventionality of some of the covers, all the same emotion, angst, anger and rebellion the record is known for comes through on every track. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the same political and social commentary that weighed heavy on the lyrical content still persists almost 30 years later, adding to the timeless aspect of not only the album, but these themes. Bands young and old can use the original as a roadmap and the tribute version as a model of honoring to the pioneers who came before you.

Bottom Line: The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated makes the very definitive statement that not all the classics go out of style. Allowing other bands to inject new life into your most pivotal album takes guts that very few bands would have. To even conjure up this idea is proof that the band recognizes the monumental impact the original Shape has had on the punk landscape; a sort of admission that the songs no longer belong to just a 90's hardcore band from Sweden, but the scene as a whole. Refused may be saying farewell, but they will never be fucking dead.