Millencolin have always been a little hit and miss for me. They seem to bounce from the utterly sublime to the horribly predictable in the blink of an eye and it's made their career a pretty inconsistent and frustrating one. It's probably the reason why the band aren't bigger than they are - after all they've been around a long time now and bagged some pretty big slots at the same time. But for whatever reason they seem to have missed the boat when it translates to record sales.
'Machine 15' is a big sounding record, possibly the biggest the band have ever sounded. There's strings, multi-layered guitars and the vocals are much more rounded and less harsh. It's more pop than punk; to be honest this is more a rock album than anything else. 'Done Is Done', for instance, is a very melodic, mid-tempo rock song with a chorus which builds up really nicely. But it's years away from the likes of 'Fox'. At times the band sound more grown up, but this is probably more in terms of the production than their songwriting. After all,
'Detox' sounds a bit like Good Charlotte so you can't say their songwriting abilities have grown all that much.
'Brand New Game' is a really, really good song but these are few and far between. There are plenty of decent moments, a couple of awkward songs and then a couple of great moments. It's typical Millencolin really. The band have tried to diversify and grow up but are stuck with the same old problems - inconsistency. I swear this band would have the best 'Greatest Hits' CD ever, but as an album this just doesn't hit the spot often enough for me.
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