Sounds Like Violence – The Pistol / 2004 Deep Elm Records / 6 Songs / http://www.soundslikeviolence.com / http://www.deepelm.com / Reviewed 27 May 2004

Never content to fit in with normal time signatures or outlooks on how a singer is supposed to sound, Sweden’s Sounds Like Violence make a masterpiece that encompasses the entire world in a scant six tracks. The piece is the chaos-in-a-snowglobe sound of the penultimate track on the EP, “Afasi”. Whether it is the acidic, blade-sharp guitar lines or the warbling, soulseeking vocals of Andreas, “Afasi” is the perfect description of Sounds Like Violence. Sounds Like Violence, instead of allowing “Afasi” to completely go into what seems like a downward spiral of chaos and musical anarchy, is able to pull the crazed beast back and tame it for the rest of the track. Extraordinarily proficient with their instruments in the traditional sense, they have exhausted any interested in conforming to a traditional sound, and have tried to perfect their own sound, something they do to complete success on “The Pistol”.

Not falling into the insincere trap of allowing themselves to be lumped in with the “rock revolution” bands that dared to proclaim their music “The Shape of Punk To Come”, Sounds Like Violence is subtly changing punk, rock, emo, and all alternative styles of music with their innovative and forward-looking attitudes to their music. “Cry Oh Cry!” is a mere exercise for Sounds Like Violence, as they are so capable with their instruments and their arrangements that writing a radio-friendly, compelling song comes as easy to them as does riding a bike. Keeping certain things always present in the background is what allows Sounds Like Violence to go on so many different thematic and genre-changing trips on such a short album. For example, the very U2 and Husker Du-influenced guitars as well as the utterly distinct vocals of Andreas are audible at practically all positions of this disc.

With each member of the band submitting their most soulful and intense playing during “The Pistol”, Sounds Like Violence have created something very magical. Ultimately transcendent of genre or time period, Sounds Like Violence are just creating a name for themselves now, but if they were creating this same style of music back in the eighties, they would be lauded in the same breath as The Minutemen or The Replacements. Form equals function for these Swedes, and each drum beat, each bass line, each guitar riff strikes the listener deep in their heart. I will be looking forward for a full-length from Sounds Like Violence in the future.

Top Track: “Afasi”

Rating: 8.0/10