Refused, one of the most influential rock bands to come out of Sweden in the 1990s, have announced a brand new album to be released later this year. The project, which will be titled War Music, is set to come out on October 18. War Music will be the group’s fifth album total, and their second since reforming in 2012. Prior to this, the band released the album Freedom in 2015, marking the group’s return to the music scene. Now Refused is ready to put out their next project, teasing it today with a clip of the first single. A clip from the first track that will be released from the album, “Blood Red,” was released alongside the album announcement. A 30 second snippet of the song was released, with the full release date for “Blood Red” announced as August 2. While fans do get a taste of the new track from the snippet, they’ll have to wait just a bit longer to see how the song unfolds.
Refused’s influence on the music scene started in the 1990s, when the group put out their debut album, This Just Might Be the Truth. The album caught on and the band soon found themselves releasing more and more music. Refused’s breakout project was 1998’s The Shape Of Punk To Come, which would go on to become the band’s most influential album. One of the biggest songs from the project was “New Noise,” which has remained one of the band’s most popular tracks of all time. Shortly after the release of the album, however, the group would break up and stay that way for over a decade.
After breaking up following the release of The Shape Of Punk To Come, the band stayed apart for 14 years, reuniting in 2012 with various concerts and festival performances. Once the group was back in the swing of things they released their first album of the century, 2015’s Freedom. The project saw a revitalization of the band’s fan base, debuting at number 2 in their home of Sweden. Now ready to put out their first album since then, War Music will be the band’s first full length project in 4 years. The band is also planning on touring extensively in support of the album, giving fans across the globe a chance to see them live. In fact,the tour has already begun, starting back in May. On the tour so far, the band has been playing “Blood Red” in its entirety, making it the only place to hear the song as of now The full version of the teased “Blood Red” single will be out at the start of August, but until then the snippet supporting the track can be found below. The full War Music album will be released everywhere on October 18.
Photo Credits: Owen Ela