Refused

SWEDISH POST-HARDCORE MASTERS FIND THE FUNK, THE PUNK AND THEIR VERY ESSENCE ON THEIR LATEST RELEASE, WAR MUSIC

- Brad Angle

SWEDEN’S LONG, COLD winter is no joke. But Refused’s Kristofer Steen is literally laughing when he answers Guitar World’s call on a late November afternoon. “The darkness has descended on Stockholm!” he gleefully exclaims. The guitarist’s surprisingly cheery disposition makes a bit more sense when you consider that Steen’s post-hardcore outfit has entered the grim season on a serious high note. Refused’s fifth album, War Music, was released just a month ago and it’s a rager — packed with 10 politically charged, swaggering anthems of genre-bending punk. The new record has also elicited comparisons to Refused’s 1998 game-changer, The Shape of Punk to Come, on which the band weaved electronic, ambient and jazz elements into their adventurous hardcore sound.