No Fun At All

Low Rider

Written by: PP on 13/12/2008 13:51:30

It's possible to argue that No Fun At All are the greatest punk band Europe has ever produced on record, and certainly that in Sweden, even when they're fighting in a league with bands like Millencolin and Refused as their direct competitors. Ever since 1993 these dues have put out one solid punk rock release after another, containing some huge classics that have also infected the other side of the pond to a great extent (considering how they've sold over 250k records worldwide), and it was with sadness that fans and media alike received the news of the band breaking up in 2001. Earlier this year, however, the band played a few re-union shows, notably at West Coast Riot before Bad Religion and NOFX, where they also announced they were coming out with a new album, "Low Rider", their first studio album in over eight years, and boy, it is so fucking good that we've been missing out in the last eight years.

Think of a midpoint between the irresistible melodic punk of bands like No Use For A Name and the solid, thick riffing of their skate punk colleagues in Pennywise, and that's where No Fun At All's sound finds itself. They're hardcore enough to appeal to the melodic hardcore crowd, but melodic enough to appeal even to the casual mainstream music fan, and most importantly, they have the songs to play the same size venues as the two aforementioned bands do. One of the most appealing aspects of No Fun At All is that they don't sound as forced or 'clean' as their American counterparts. There's something very honest and passionate about their songs, these guys don't care about the trends, they merely want to vent their frustrations out in catchy punk rock anthems; they have the sound of a band who knows exactly how they want to sound and how to execute it perfectly, which is why "Low Rider" is the best album these Swedes have put out to date - all the more impressive considering they're all well in their forties.

Songs like "Mine My Mind", "Never Ending Stream" and "Forevermore" are so fucking catchy that you'll be singing along after hearing them only once, and the pedal is floored in songs like "Man With The Powers" that are just asking for the skate/waveboard to be pulled out. And though No Fun At All can be one of the fastest bands in Europe, they do it in a way that their songs don't suffer. They're played tightly, the production is rock solid with the guitar post-distortion in the focus.. basically the sound of the 90s melodic punk movement in a nutshell, only in 2008. Just wait till you hear all the whoa whoa backing vocals that these type of records are full of, you can never go wrong with those. Pretty much the only wrong step No Fun At All takes here is the In Flames cover track "Episode 666" which doesn't really fit with the rest of the songs.

If you call yourself a punk rocker, or find bands like Bad Religion, NUFAN, NOFX, Millencolin, etc on your favorites list, you'd be a fool not to check out "Low Rider", because only NUFAN's latest record surpasses No Fun At All this year when it comes to skate punk, and that says a lot. Both records are some of the best albums this genre has seen in the last couple of years.

Download: Never Ending Stream, Anything Could Happen Here
For the fans of: Bad Religion, Pennywise, No Use For A Name, Millencolin
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.11.2008
Beat 'Em Down Records

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