Despite the excitement over Refused‘s upcoming comeback record Freedom, there have been equally as many fans who are expressing doubt regarding the album. Some have questioned whether reuniting has defiled the band’s original principles, while others have pointed out the extremely daunting task of following up such a monstrous record as The Shape of Punk to Come. While Freedom‘s lead single “Elektra” (stream here) was an excellent slab of classic Refused aggression, the album’s latest released track “Françafrique” pales in comparison and is an all-around embarrassing track to be bearing the Refused name. Head past the jump to stream the blunder:
Other than the admittedly awesome sound of Françafrique’s pronunciation in the chorus and the catchy horn build towards the track’s conclusion, the remainder of the song is just one gaudy moment after another. From the kitschy schoolchildren chorus that opens the track to the abysmally generic southern hard rock riff to the repetitive lyrics including several pitch-shifted “murders,” everything that Refused presents here should be met with disbelief. If it were not for Dennis Lyxzén’s distinct vocals, no one would have ever pegged this as refused song on a blind listen. It is with the greatest sincerity that I hope that this is an anomaly on Freedom and the remainder of the album resembles “Elektra,” because as of right now, I have transitioned from wanting to pre-order the album (which may be done here) after my next paycheck to needing to wait to stream the album in its entirety first. “Françafrique” is just that bad.
-SM