Pennybridge Pioneers

Customer Reviews

• Very, Very Misunderstood CD  Aug 6, 2000 (14 of 14 found this helpful)

  If you are looking for something fast and edgy, you won't find it here. What "Pennybridge Pioneers" excels at is its just good ol' fashioned music. It's still "punk" (i.e.- punk riffs, certain song subjects, etc... ), but MillenColin is just starting to mature and it really shows. It's not as fast as previous albums, but the crastmanship here is astounding. Songs are well thought out and lyrics are nothing short of beautiful. The melody and harmony is definitely better than almost every punk band (with the exception of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes) out there. It's just one of those CD's that I can't stop listening to. You know, the ones where you learn all the lyrics to every song without realizing it. I especially like "Hellman", "A-ten", and "The Ballad." It's a real shame that "Pennybridge Pioneers" will be overlooked because many are dubbing it horrible for its slower pace. Overall it's an amazing work of art that no fan of punk rock should miss. I haven't heard tunes this good since Less Than Jake's "Losing Streak." High praise indeed.

• You like it or you don't  May 2, 2000 (9 of 10 found this helpful)

  After reading all of these reviews, it pretty easy to come up with the assumtion that either you will like it or you won't. I remember first hearing Millencolin on the Punk-O-Rama releases and I thought that they were a pretty good band, but they had more of an upbeat, almost silly style of music that I wasn't too into at the time. This is the first CD that I have bought by them and it's one of the best CD's I've ever heard. Although I can't compare it to any of their other stuff, I don't see how anyone could think that this music is slow. Sometimes music can just be too fast. If you don't like this CD because it's not as fast as their old stuff, then I think you're missing the bigger picture. Fast music is definetly great, but some bands put too much of an emphasis on being fast, rather than writing good music. This CD still sounds as punk as hell. Every band changes over time. Some bands make leaps and bounds, and others make subtle changes. This record is filled with good music, good lyrics, and just an over all good layout. So they're trying something a bit different. Who cares? They're just trying some new ideas out, and I think they're making some damn fine tunes. "No Cigar," "Fox," "Material Boy," "Duckpond," "Highway Donkey," these are all great songs that sound as punk as anything I've heard. It's true that there are one or two rather slow songs, but that's the point of punk. To be diverse. I'd much rather have a CD with diverse song writing rather than listening to the same old riff over and over again. Overall, this CD is catchy, both musically and lyrically, and it's got a wide range of styles. It's not slow. Slow is Nirvana or Soundgarden. Even Rancid is slower at times than these guys. Good lyrics, great guitar work, great music. Just remember that they're doing what they like, and having fun at it, while you're sitting there criticizing them. And I'm sure they don't care.

• millencolin should have been made famous by this!  Aug 14, 2001 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  A brilliant album with excellent riffs,and melodies to go with the well thought out lyrics. If Millencolin where as big as NOFX,The Offspring or Bad Religion, this album would have been a massive hit but the guys from Sweden will be overlooked by many mainstream punk fans. This is unfortunate, but i am sure there next album will sell more copies as the band get bigger in the us and uk. I doubt there will be anouther punk album as good as this for several years. My favourate tracks on the album "Pennybrige Pioneers" are "No Cigar","Devil me" and "penguins & Polarbears"

• Sell Outs  Mar 28, 2000 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  If you like the fast-paced, punk beat, hardcore Millencolin, then this CD isn't for you. They sound like they tried to make it big like Blink 182 by slowing down their music and trying to make it more poppy, except their guitar riffs are similar each song. Maybe its the new record company but they sold out to punk.

• A big turn in a new direction  Feb 23, 2000 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

  Not like Life on a plate. They have gone from Catchy ska to power fast melodic punk to now a Hard kind of Melodic rock. But that doesn't mean that the songs are bad at all. No Cigar, Duck Pond, Hellman, and Highway Donkey are some of the best slower Millencolin songs ever heard and written(my own opinion). Just because Millencolin took a change to a slower rock with songs similar to Otis, and Black Gold(both from For Monkeys), doesn't mean that millencolin has lost anything at all. They still have got there magic touch in writting great music that's full of life. I recomend this album to any true Millencolin fan!