Album Review: Millencolin - True Brew

When Millencolin played Melbourne’s The Hi-Fi earlier this year, something unprecedented in live music happened. As singer and bass player Nikola Sarcevic announced they were about to play something off their upcoming album, the crowd didn’t immediately race to the bar, the bathroom or outside for a cigarette. The promise of ‘something from the new album’ that has so reliably emptied band rooms, presumably since the birth of live music, actually got the crowd excited. And as Millencolin busted out several more newbies that night, the excitement only grew; excitement that’s now been justified with the release of True Brew.

The first new album in seven years, True Brew declares itself pure Millencolin from the opening seconds of Egocentric Man, while first single, Sense & Sensibility, perfectly encapsulates this band in 2015. Sarcevic is tackling big issues and big ideas, while the rest of Millencolin give it the perfect melodic punk treatment to ensure it never feels like a lecture or sermon.

For those ‘90s devotees who swear by For Monkeys or Pennybridge Pioneers, there are plenty of throwbacks to those seminal records. For the new millennium crowd who appreciated the odd side steps found on Kingwood and Machine 15, you’re covered too. True Brew is the sound of a band a little older and a little wiser. It’s also a band with just as much energy, angst and attitude as ever. Only now, their age and wisdom means that energy, angst and attitude are more focused than ever before.