Refused Return

What more really could ever be said about Refused's The Shape of Punk to Come?This masterpiece of post-hardcore was and really still is quite earth shattering. For so many people this was a cold slap of reality across the face that took the genre and flipped it upside down. Here were a group or Swedes that defined a scene with songs that could rip your liver out and still find a melody, but they were unafraid to create a manifesto and "way of life," around it all. The Shape of Punk to Come is an amazing record of such weighty proportions that a zillion bands have tried to equal it's importance and quality over the last twelve years and have yet to do so.

That's why it only made sense for Epitaph/Burning Heart to expand upon this document and release a completely redone version of this record. Taking the original album and adding to it, this already perfect record is now even more perfect than ever before. Make sense? Expanded from a single disc to three the set now includes the original album which to this day sounds as vital and relevant, tacks on a brutal, chaotic, and quite possibly deadly live performance from 1998, and a DVD of the infamous documentary Refused Are !#$%ing Dead. At over three hours total, this is a complete multi-media experience that might just end up killing you in some bombastic explosion of energy.

While it really is difficult to make The Shape of Punk to Comeany better than it already is, this expanded version is a post-hardcore wave of destruction that's wake of terror is almost incalculable. While casual fans might see the live show as merely a value add, the actual performance itself shows another side of the band which was and or is rarely heard. The show gives an added dimension to the group and this package that helps paint a complete picture of this short-lived but vitally important band Refused were. The show is epic stuff that makes you completely envious of those that were actually at that show at the UEMA 12 years ago. What a night that must have been and the fact that anyone left there alive is truly unbelievable.

The infamous document Refused Are !#$%ing Dead puts the final nail in the coffin of The Shape of Punk to Come. A glimpse into the band and what happened post The Shape of Punk to Come. You're left wishing it never ended, but somewhere in the back of your head you're left knowing that it had to come to a close. A band that created such frenetic chaos couldn't last for very long and Refused didn't. Their relatively short lifespan makes this more important. The Shape of Punk to Comereally was the shape of things to come and it's impact is still being felt twelve years after the fact. I'll never forget watching kids go NUTS when ever I would play, "New Noise," at the end of my DJ nights. While it had been played for years prior, the fact that so many kids STILL loved to go nuts to this song in 2007 says more about the power and importance of this record than I could ever. Essential? You betcha.