
It will be 25 years since the release of Refused’s landmark third album The Shape of Punk to Come at the end of October. Though the band broke up right after, they reunited 10 years ago and have been touring since, while releasing two more albums. They are supposedly breaking up permanently after this current tour.
As part of the celebrations, a tribute album to Shape will be released a week or so after the 25th anniversary. The first track from it is a cover of “Tannhäuser / Derive” by fellow Swedes Cult of Luna. Funnily enough, Cult of Luna formed in 1998. “Tannhäuser / Derive” is the longest track on Shape and, like most of the album, deviates sharply from the formula of ’90s punk: The song begins with a cello solo and then the band jams along with it. There’s some silence and then the song proper starts. As befitting a song with a slash in the title, around six minutes in there is a second part with stand-up bass and melodica.
Cult of Luna dispense with the cello but generally evoke the long intro, especially the drums. However, once the song proper breaks out, it is very different. The vocals are metal scream-growls and the aggression doesn’t take as many breaks as it does in the original, though there is a section where the band jams out a softer section without vocals. The cover stretches out two minutes longer than the original due to all the jamming.
It is a Swedish metal cover of a hardcore song, so it’s not exactly subtle. But it never ever sounds like Refused, and it is nearly unrelenting in its aggressiveness. Check it out: