Misanthropic Generation

Album Review

Perhaps the ultimate extreme metal gun-for-hire, former At the Gates vocal legend Thomas Lindberg followed up his short stay with death metal purists Crown by joining forces with obscure Swedish hardcore band Disfear. On their first collaboration, 2003's Misanthropic Generation — also the first Disfear release in six years — Lindberg's inimitably rabid screams drive the band into new realms of intensity, resulting in a pulverizing brand of death & roll rarely heard this side of Entombed. But it's real punk rock riffs, not metallic staccato riffing, that carry outstanding songs like "An Arrogant Breed," "Rat Race," "Never gonna Last," and "A Thousand Reasons" above and beyond standard death metal, allowing Lindberg's voice even more room than usual to reek its sonic destruction. Furious blasts like "Powerload," "26 Years of Nothing," and "Desperation" border on grindcore, without ever quite crossing over; and at under two minutes, the manic "The Final of Chapters" recalls Agnostic Front at their best. Simple and straightforward, Misanthropic Generation is about as vicious as hardcore gets — and also about as honest.