Album Review: Millencolin The Melancholy Connection

When Millencolin performed 2000's Pennybridge Pioneers in its entirety at last year's Soundwave, the crowd went wild. But the reaction was not so strong for the newer songs in their set. It has been a decade since Millencolin's last truly decent album, 2002's Home From Home, and it seemed the band had long since plateaued.

The Melancholy Connection, a collection of B-sides released to celebrate the two decades Millencolin have been making music, sees the band looking firmly to the past - it is named after their first B-sides album, The Melancholy Collection, after all - and the cover art is basically Pennybridge Pioneers with older heads. B-side albums usually seem to be boring compilations put out to end a contract a band no long wants to be a part of, filled with songs not good enough to be on their other albums. But this album isn't; although it is a B-sides album, Melancholy Connection is Millencolin's best release in almost a decade.

The album opens strongly with new compositions Carry You and Out From Nowhere, and does not lull in quality until almost halfway through the album, and even then quickly gets back on track.

The Melancholy Connection is not perfect – Bull By The Horns and Junkie For Success are duds, E20-Norr (Battery Check in Swedish) is redundant, and the album is too long. It is, however, an enjoyable and nostalgic listen. Seeing how most of the material is at least four years old, it will be interesting to see how the band follows this up.