Millencolin - Machine 15

Machine 15, the new album by my favorite band Millencolin is out, and I have shocked myself by not buying it immediately. As the band that help me break out of musical limbo, I have had an unwavering devotion to their new releases - it was never a matter of 'if' or 'when'. This time however, I got to listen to it in its entirety on their Myspace, and that was all I needed to know the album wasn't up to snuff.

It isn't easy for me to say that, but on the other hand, it makes sense. As the album name implies, the band is 15 years old now, which is ancient by just about any standard. Sure there are old bands from the 60's that are still touring to this day, but how many of them have put out new and relevant material? How many of the most famous bands from the 90's to today have lasted that long while producing quality music? It is rare, and so it seems only natural if MC is on the decline.

While every band has problems for different reasons, MC's seems to be directly related to their age. That is, they'er older, and this is affecting their work. Nikola's lyrics have gotten more and more serious post-Pennybridge, which led to some fantastic, edgier stuff on Home From Home. But it seems he is brought the mentality he uses with his solo work to Machine 15. His solo albums are filled with sappy love songs that tread the same tropes and themes we have heard a million times. It made me realize that he can be a lot weaker as a lyricist than I previously thought, at least when he isn't focusing on the wacky, more youthful topics of classic MC tunes. When bringing this sappy flavor into Machine 15, we are left with lyrics that sound awkward and obvious. They take you out of the song and almost make you cringe.

Worst yet is that there are a few fantastic tracks. Brand New Game is a clever retrospective on the band that name drops a lot of their past songs and will test your MC knowledge. Detox is their required catchy single, though this time there doesn't seem to be much else with a similar tone on the album.

I'll get around to Machine 15 some day, but it doesn't make me hopeful for the future. Nikola must find his inner teenager; if the band can take its wild and carefree lyrics of the past and combine them with their musical prowess as adults, we could be in for a treat. On the other hand, you could say that the Kingwood album was exactly that. Maybe it really is time for MC to wind down.