The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, often shortened to The Shape of Punk to Come, is the third album by Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, released on 27 October 1998 through Burning Heart Records. The album continues the band's evolution from strictly Punk to more experimental influences, begun on their previous album, Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent. The album received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike upon release, and the band would break up only a few months after the album's release. However, since then, The Shape of Punk to Come has found an audience for the band and largely contributed to their posthumous fame, as well as inspiring many later artists in a wide range of genres. Kerrang! magazine listed The Shape of Punk to Come at #13 on their 50 Most Influential Albums of All Time list in 2003. The album has been described musically as post-hardcore, and hardcore punk, with elements of jazz, punk rock, electronica, post-rock, ambient, and heavy metal. The album marked a sharp and conscious departure from Refused's earlier work. The philosophy of the album, expounded in the ample liner notes and encapsulated in the song "New Noise", was that punk and hardcore music could not be anti-establishment by continuing to package revolutionary lyrics in sounds which had been increasingly co-opted into the mainstream. The sound of the record challenged existing punk sensibilities; it can be seen as "punk" at a fundamental level and includes experimental combinations of post-hardcore, post-punk, techno, and jazz sounds. The album also includes "political interludes" between some songs. The use of more technological sounds or drum and bass music, particularly on The New Noise Theology E.P. which followed the album, is a tactic that various members of Refused have credited to the influence of Philadelphia punk band Ink & Dagger.
If you read on the Wikipedia page that an album was a commercial and critical failure at the time, you know it must be good. This is a great (post)hardcore album with a lot of dynamic songs. The subtitle "A chimerical bombination in 12 bursts" could not have been more to the point.
Absolutely classic punk album should have been on the list and still sounds so good today, can’t believe I’m actually going to rate this higher than the shape of Jazz to come, but think that’s purely down to personal taste, and influence on my current music.
Naming your album after an Ornette Coleman album and promising to be the sound of the future of punk just like "Shape of Jazz to Come" was for avantgarde jazz has to be in the top 5 most pretentious things ever done in the history of humankind, but then actually pulling off something genuinely as progressive and interesting as this is kinda astounding. Jazzy, electronic hardcore punk, loud as fuck, infinite energy. It's a great time and paved the way for a bunch of music I love.
Refused... by my ears...
Took a bit to settle in, but I actually listened to the whole LP (live tracks and all) because I enjoyed it so much. This album's blistering, frenetic punk veneer rests on a surprisingly technical set of instrumentals and progressions for the label, and each one of these tracks punches above its weight due to the combined effect of such good musicianship. The vocals seem to be everyone's catching point here, but to me they fit in perfectly among the other technically discordant elements – just like a feedback squeal or pinch harmonic, the screaming is just another aggressive instrument in the mix. This isn't the kind of music you can just dip your toes into off the bat as most of the reviews have shown here, but if you're a seasoned vet who's into this kind of thing, this LP is an amazing find and a great add to the list!
Interesting period piece: Unfortunately it was prescient with "The shape of punk to come" and that shape was nu-metal. Some great songs I was getting into ruined every time by screaming which was edgy in 1998 and ruined very quicky in the 2000's.
Good stuff. I wish punk had turned out that shape.
This rocked. Loved it.
I loved the variety of the instrumentation - didn't love the screaming. But after a while the music was so engaging that I didn't care as much that I was being screamed at...
Radical in almost every sense of the word.
It may have failed on release but this is one of those albums that spread’s influence far and wide. A 10/10 classic
What an incredible submission. If we’re talking about albums that belong on the 1001 Albums list, this one should be non-negotiable. Love it or hate it, it’s a landmark and hugely influential to bands across genre's, from At the Drive-In, Glassjaw, Thursday to Rise Against, Enter Shikari and even Muse. At first pass it sounds like a hardcore record, but at following listens you really get listening to the jazz breakdowns, drum & bass glitches, spoken-word manifestos, strings, and sheer chaos stitched into hardcore punk’s backbone. Refused deliberately set out to reinvent what punk and hardcore could be. Of course still with that political bite that more than 25 years later doesn’t sound dated. You can hear the blueprint for modern punk and post-hardcore, metalcore, experimental punk, even electronic-heavy bands that came after. Groundbreaking, deeply influential, and still an absolute thrill.
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Summerholidays vs Pankroutine
Angry Swedish punk.
All over the place in the best way possible. Electronic to jazz to screamo to speed metal to punk and then back.
This is a fun ride. Hardcore at times, electronicish at others? Keeps you on your toes
The punk to come is way better than actual punk. Cyberpunk biased. At least 4
Good new take on punk music
Proggy punk has come across this thing before, but these guys actually got the goods. Strong offering, although it does show off a little bit that punk was not spared from the album-too-long-disease that was plaguing metal during the CD era
Sounds very American, right up until they start talking Swedish! A wonderful album, from a band who I only knew in passing, and a great suggestion.
Even though I consider post-hardcore to be one of my favourite genres, I've never listened to this album all the way through before now. I see that I was missing out! Solid work
A revolutionary post-hardcore album that really revitalises the genre by blending it with jazz, electronica, and a heavier metal sound. It’s a hell of an ambitious album title but manages to live up to it, and the whole ethos of the record (‘that punk and hardcore music could not be anti-establishment by continuing to package revolutionary lyrics in sounds which had been increasingly co-opted into the mainstream’) is pretty rad. Despite its anti-establishment core, it’s still catchy as hell in places, like Liberation Frequency’s refrain demanding the airwaves back. New Noise is the standout single and it’s just a perfectly crafted song - the riff builds tension so magnificently, it bubbles and infuses with that electronic warbling, and then just blows the fuck up with that cry of ‘Can I scream?’
Just class
I know I've heard this album before, but I can't remember much about it. I do know that new noise got a bit of alternative radio play here. I remember seeing the clip for it in about 1999-2000. Was kinda a hardcore/groove sound. Yeah ok that's the whole album. Maybe a bit more post-hardcore than the single overall. The dissonance got a bit grating in the end, it goes for almost an hour, but eh 3/5.
This Krot going back and forth between solid hardcore album and way too aggressive screaming. New noise is the real saving grace of the album as it’s a fantastic combination of the hardcore screaming with great instrumentals. That song alone can get the heart rate downing a bit. Overall it’s a good album with some songs worth revisiting but replaying the whole album is a hard sell. 6.6/10
Decent hooks and variety of dynamics, but the screaming gets old fast. Might've it been better as an instrumental record? This is very much not one’s thing, never was, and so one can’t speak to “influence.” Production is notably superior to the music making, at least to one’s ears. And if you’re going to have such a title, the music should be better.
Raw Energy: 10/10 This album doesn’t just bring the heat—it throws gasoline on it and dances in the flames. Pure, unfiltered adrenaline. Melodic, To-the-Point Songs: 8/10 Short, punchy, and surprisingly tuneful beneath the chaos. Like finding a catchy chorus in the middle of a riot. Vocals: 2/10 Now, about those vocals... If screaming at the top of your lungs were an Olympic sport, this album would take gold. But for casual listening—say, anywhere outside a mosh pit—it’s a bit much. The shouting tends to drown out the actual songs, which deserve better. Then again, I might not be the ideal judge of a punk-hardcore classic. I like my rage with a melody and my distortion with a side of nuance
Real rollercoaster, I liked some of it pretty well and really didn't care for other parts at all. Generally the metal-adjacent screamo stuff was not my bag, but it moved around and got into some interesting territory.
Made me work faster
Not the shape of punk to come
I can definitely hear the influence of this on pop punk that came out in the early 2000s. It wasn't anything super amazing beyond that for me, but it inspired a lot of stuff I enjoy so that's good to have heard. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3.5/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight yes.
I enjoyed most of The Shape of Punk To Come, New Noise has been a regular on my rotation list for years and is the best track on here, but I'd never really checked them out beyond that. It has a lot of the same energy, doesn't always have the same quality but Refused are Fucking Dead is top and The Deadly Rhythm not far behind, same with The Refused Party Program. Easy 3/5 that might push a low 4 on re-listens, bundles of punk energy and dynamism with a decent amount of musicality for the genre.
It was okay
I like the concept of this and the cover draws me in....... but sadly the screaming gets me every time. Musically there's some interesting sounds here but then again Rage against the machine got there first I think. Still, it woke me up this morning and that's a good thing.
Musically this was pretty great, but I have a really limited tolerance for the screaming. Fave Songs: Summerholidays vs. Punkroutine, The Deadly Rhythm, New Noise, Liberation Frequency, Bruitist Pome #5
Enjoyed it.
Wow, I knew some of this! Should have been on the true list
The last track is literally the author grunting and groaning for several minutes. It's weird music, but sometimes I guess that's what early punk feels like. 3 stars from me.
Post hardcore is not really for me, and I wasn't thrilled with the long runtime on this, but I ended up enjoying this quite a bit. Settled in nicely.
I can see why this didn’t do well commercially when it was originally released, especially in comparison to the pop-punk explosion that occurred at the same time led by Blink-182. It often takes time to see visionary musical advances like this album. Was it enjoyable? It made my throat hurt as I listened.
Hardcore punk, post-hardcore. No me ha gustado. Un 2.
live..........................
0% my thing but I can respect that it has the song from the bear that they play whenever all the characters lock in.
A rare DNF, 100 mins plus of being shouted at in a pretty uninteresting way, no thanks. Some of the intros were ok though so saved from 1 star hell
I was hopeful with the punk label, but found this very difficult to get into and enjoy anything. The beginning of Tannhauser has a great sound but quickly devolves like the rest of the album. Was happy to get past this.
found this one difficult to get into
Se agradece conocer música de países distintos a los de siempre, pero estos son muy gritones.
Hardcore punk, post-hardcore. No me ha gustado. Un 2.
Agog at this. An explosive 12 loads of punk straight down my ear canal. Who is writer of this? David - Sandström. Well, well, well. What the hell is the fishpaliikki going on here my mother said while listening to this one time probably.
Ugh...not a fan of scream rock. Solid guitars and tight sound, but oh, the screaming
Listened to it 2 days ago and can’t remember a thing
It’s a hard no from me, would have given it a zero if I could have