THE (INTERNATIONAL) NOISE CONSPIRACY
A New Morning (Epitaph)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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When the Swedish punk band, Refused, released one album and imploded in 1998, I held my own personal minute of silence. Their album, The Shape Of Punk To Come, had blown my socks off and given me hope for.. well, for the shape of punk to come. And then there was just smoke and an empty stage. Apparently I missed Survival Sickness, the debut album by The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Didn't hear a word about it and still haven't heard a note from it. I've heard A New Morning, though, and I'm going to tell you about it. It's the second release from this band made up at least partly of survivors of Refused, including lead vocalist Dennis Lyxzen, and it's a political manifesto dressed in the most authentic sounds of garage, mod, punk and to a lesser degree jazz. Guitars drone through what sounds like a spinning Leslie speaker, a distorted organ spins out of control, feedback slowly infiltrates and then overwhelms the soundscape as Lyxzen pours his heart out with songs like "Capitalism Stole My Virginity," "Bigger Cages, Longer Chains," and "New Empire Blues." They don't much care for governments A, B, C or D, and they have songs exposing the weaknesses of each without boring the listener or even sounding particularly preachy (they save that for the liner notes). What they do sound is hot, talented, and as is always the case with such a band, too good to ever get a sniff from the masses, so they'll have to be the secret of the few. I've joined in this particular conspiracy of my own free will. With music this good, nobody has to twist my arm.

© 2002 - DJ Johnson