Freedom

Almost two decades have passed since the Swedish punk band Refused released their genre-busting album The Shape of Punk to Come. After years of not speaking to each other, they found themselves in a brief reunion tour in 2012, and have now issued Freedom, a collection that's unlike its predecessor in every way.

Sweden’s Refused is rightly held in high regard for 1998’s The Shape Of Punk To Come, an undisputed classic that served as a rallying cry for bands longing to incorporate sounds from outside the walls of aggressive music. But it’s just as easy to forget that, prior to that album’s release, Refused was only ever a…

The Swedish punk legends make a muddled and - ultimately - unnecessary return.

Check out our album review of Artist's Freedom on Rolling Stone.com.

Persuasive, pummelling, precise. Refused are no longer fucking dead.

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Seventeen years ago, legendary Swedish hardcore act Refused released their aptly titled album, The Shape of Punk to Come, which would go on...

Refused were a Swedish post-hardcore punk group who split up in 1998 after failing to overthrow capitalism. Eventually, they succumbed to temptation and embraced the whole lucrative reformation package.

The ornamental bluster of Refused’s Freedom masks a basic tunelessness.

Let’s be open to the idea that, for all of their experimentalism, Refused has never been anything other than a hardcore band.

Refused - Freedom review: Refused aren't dead, and neither is their ethos.