Misconduct - One Step Closer
Swedish punks play it safe on third record
There have been quite few punk rock bands to emerge from Sweden over the years, with Refused and The Hives to name but a couple, and now Misconduct step up to the plate with third album ‘One Step Closer’. Though they have more in common with the likes of Good Charlotte or No Use for a Name then seminal homeland acts like Refused.
‘One Step Closer’ opens in typical punk pop fashion, giving us a melodic overture to prove their musical worth and taking a leaf out of Good Charlotte’s multi-million selling ‘Young and the Hopeless’ at the same time. First real track ‘Closer’ is up next and sets the tone for the rest of the album with perfect 3 minute pop nuggets which could easily be turned into chart gold. ‘Out of Reach’, ‘Naya’ and ‘Family’ follow in quick session and stick to the same basic formula but being not quite as good, while hearing ‘I Close my Eyes’ and ‘Walk Away’ you realize that this is the Fat Wreck Chords band that never was. Their similarity to acts like Bracket and Hi-standard is striking.
And then we have ‘One Step Forward’, the album’s highlight and as perfect a melding of punk and pop as there’s ever been, with lead singer Fredrik Olsson chanting the iconic chorus of, "One step forward, two steps back" over soaring guitars and pneumatic drumming. ‘Salvation Generation’ keeps up the standard until the limp ‘Won’t Forget’ and ‘Peace, Love and Unity’ close out the show, sounding rather similar to earlier material on the album but with weaker hooks. ‘One Step Closer’ finishes with the slow ‘Side by Side’, 'one for the ladies' and not exactly Misconduct’s finest hour.
There are no boundaries being broken here, no reinvention of the wheel and this has been done many times before, though usually far worse. In this crowded scene it’s easy for Misconduct to continue to operate under the radar but, on the strength of this record, they promise bigger things to come in the future.
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