Swedish hardcore punk band Refused announced a new EP called The Malignant Fire will be released on Nov. 20 and released the first track, “Born On The Outs,” according to NME. The five-track EP will be the band’s first release since 2019’s War Music.
“Born On The Outs” is an anti-fascist song featuring lyrics such as “With your silence / You vote for their oppression / With your violence / You vote continuation.”
In an interview with NME, Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzén said: “I think if you’re static in your political ideas, that’s not a good thing. I think the foundation, with me, is more-or-less the same though. We’re still very anti-capitalist, pro-feminist and the like. Sadly, I think the ideas we were talking about in 1995 are still pretty relevant today. I think what’s changed for me is that I don’t take every fight anymore.”
“Born On The Outs” starts with a short, repetitive guitar riff and a staccato beat building in the back. Lyxzén begins singing softly, followed by a low bass drum as the song continues to build. Lyxzén’s vocals grow stronger and louder as the drums speed up until he finally screams the line “I carve my name in hate.”
The chorus features multiple electric guitars playing over a slamming drum beat and Lyxzén singing the lyrics “Born on the outside, I accept my fate.” The song later slows as a synth comes in to play slow chords as Lyxzén’s vocals become soft again, before quickly building up once more and abruptly ending with him again shouting “I carve my name in hate.”
In August, Refused announced they had to cancel their European tour due to COVID-19 and said they were working on new music. On Aug. 29, they released a limited edition vinyl of a session they did at Maida Vale Studios in London.
Earlier in the year, the band released the songs “A Like Supreme” and “The Ballad of Buck Rivers” under the name Samurai for the soundtrack to video game Cyberpunk 2077. The band teamed up with Polish video game developer CD Projekt Red last year to create the music for the video game. A handful of other artists contributed to the game’s soundtrack, including Run The Jewels, A$AP Rocky and The New Regime.
In March, Lyxzén teamed up with Brian Baker of Minor Threat to form a new punk supergroup called Fake Names and released a single called “Bricks.”
Refused, which was formed in 1991 in Umea, Sweden, have released two albums — Freedom and War Music — and one EP — Servants of Death — since reuniting in 2014.
The Malignant Fire tracklist:
- Malfire
- Born On The Outs
- Organic Organic Organic (Go Fuck Yourself)
- Faceless Corporate Violence
- Jackals Can’t Be Bothered To Dream
Featured image: Owen Ela
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