Album Review: AC4 - 'AC4'

Fans of Refused should rejoice as vocalist Dennis Lyxzen and drummer David Sandstrom are making music together again in the form of AC4, although do be warned, the two bands have little in common. Where Refused looked to see where punk music could go, AC4 prefer to offer a glimpse at where it has come from, as their debut self titled record is full of energetic blasts of classic punk rock.

Opening with guitar feedback, fast drums and screams, Where Are The Kids, is one minute of pure fun, which surprisingly contains more melody than you might expect. Lyxzen, who is capable of quite an impressive scream, tends to favour clean singing throughout the record, especially in the chorus sections.

The recording has a very “garage” sound, which was no doubt intentional, conveying a live feel which suits the genre perfectly. The guitars, which do not change their buzz saw distortion tone for the whole record, can become a little draining after a while as a little variance would have been nice.

One of the stand out tracks is 'Won't Bow Down,' which takes more of a rock approach, slowing down its pace in the beginning before ending back in familiar punk territory. Lyrically the album varies in day to day style content, even touching on a humorous note in 'Pigs Lose,' where the members acknowledge their ages as older members of the punk community.

Sandstrom opts to put down the sticks and handles bass duties for the band with the rest of the line up completed by Karl Backman on guitar and Jens Norden on drums. The name AC4 is taken from the regional code of Vasterbotten, in which the group's home town of Umea is located.

None of the songs crack the two minute mark making this record a quick affair, and those looking for any innovative Refused musical revelations will be very disappointed as that is not what AC4 are about. This is a straight up punk albumin the genres most simplistic form, and it is a hell of a lot of fun.

1. Where Are The Kids

2. I Wanna Go

3. The Same Fight

4. Assassination

5. Fuck The Pigs

6. I Can Do It

7. Won't Bow Down

8. It Catches Up

9. My Condition

10. Pigs Lose

11. Over In A Second

12. Let's Go To War

13. Coptown

14. This Is It