Label: Woah Dad! – WOAH065
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Sweden
Released: 10 Feb 2017
Genre: Rock
Style: Post-Punk

Tracklist

A1 Love's Like A Drug
A2 I Dreamt Music
A3 Immer Zu
A4 The Distance
B1 Deconstruct Hits
B2 Bom Bom
B3 This Constant War

Notes
Black vinyl pressing.
Printed inner sleeve with lyrics and photos.

The second full-length release from the Swedish post-punk band formerly known as Lost Patrol was recorded by Adam "Atom" Greenspan.

Dennis Lyxzén is best known as the frontman for caustic Swedish punk outfit Refused. There’s probably plenty of that band’s fans, though, that don’t realise that he also sings in INVSN, a band that represent a departure in both sonic and thematic terms - albeit to different degrees.

Like Refused, INVSN are highly political in their lyrical outlook, but if their self-titled 2013 album was anything to go by, they’re more measured in that respect - the blood-and-thunder approach of Dennis’ main band is replaced here by messages that are superficially calmer, but ultimately just as excoriating. They also tick more indie rock boxes than they do punk ones; think the thick synth gloom of latter-day Interpol, methodically punctured by polished guitars. ‘The Beautiful Stories’ is their liveliest effort to date.

The frontman is on typically contrarian form throughout, and striking is the constant vocal back-and-forth with Sara Almgren, who’s punk stock is not in doubt; she was part of Swedish straight-edge band The Doughnuts. Her honeyed tones drip with menace, but still serve to take a little of the edge off of Dennis’ acidic delivery. The pair stand front and centre throughout and prove the musical anchor across what is musically an experimental album, from the belligerent minimalism of ‘Bom Bom’ to the hazy post-punk of ‘Deconstruct Hits’. The standout, meanwhile, is the infectious, groove-driven turn, ‘This Constant War’. Perhaps the present political climate calls for something a little more nuanced than Refused’s scorched-earth tactics.

REVIEWER: JOE GOGGINS
RATING: 4 STARS
http://diymag.com/2017/06/09/invsn-the-beautiful-stories