TRUE BREW

TRUE BREW

Swedish skate-punk quartet Millencolin return with their first album in seven years, True Brew. Titled to reflect the tight bonds and egalitarian politics that have kept the original band lineup in place for over 20 years, True Brew is a return to the punk roots that inspired the band’s formation. “Since we started the band we have tried with every new record to explore new ground,” vocalist/bassist Nikola Sarcevic offers. “If the other albums were going further away from where we once were, this one is digging deeper right down in the core of the kind of punk rock the once got us started.” Don’t call it a throwback, though. While True Brew musically draws upon some of Millencolin’s earliest influences like Bad Religion and NOFX through galloping drums and fast, technical riffing, the album lyrically tackles modern sociopolitical issues in ways the band never have before. Take standout track “Sense & Sensibility,” which Sarcevic wrote about the growing problem of nationalist and racist political parties in his native Sweden but could be applied to just about anywhere in the Western world. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the album’s title track is the kind of positive jam fans have come to expect from Millencolin over the years with a message that is universal. “It´s about the struggle of finding freedom and control over your life and trying to live the life you want, no matter if it might be a bit against the grain,” Sarcevic explains. “The message is to follow your heart and be true to yourself rather than taking the road recommended by others.”