Refused aren’t fucking dead, at least not yet. Ahead of the Swedish trailblazers’ final tour, they’ve asked a bunch of their punkest friends to punch up the sounds of their 1998 masterwork, The Shape of Punk to Come, for a new tribute LP, The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated. That includes Touché Amoré, who have revamped the original record’s “The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax” in their unique, emotions-soaked post-hardcore fashion.
While Refused’s “The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax” was a gentle, jazzy cap to The Shape of Punk to Come fit with shushed-and-solemn vocal deliveries, standup bass slides and haunting melodica melodies, Touché Amoré’s tributary chimerical bombination goes fully in-the-red, throwing a rock in the machine, as it were, through gritty guitar distortion and vocalist Jeremy Bolm’s signature, reedy scream. You can catch the cover up above.
As previously reported, The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated also features reworked Refused material from the likes of Gel, Quicksand, Snapcase, IDLES, Zulu, Fucked Up, Cold Cave, Cult of Luna and more. The full album is streaming today (November 8th) via Epitaph.
Additionally, Refused opted to film a new music video for The Shape of Punk to Come’s classic “Liberation Frequency,” which finds vocalist Dennis Lyxzén strolling the streets while listening to Refused in his Walkman. He also hitts a record store to buy, naturally, a copy of Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come, while a troupe of swing dancers flip each other in the air in a nearby dance studio.
Refused’s farewell tour kicks off next March, and finds the band supported by Quicksand. You’ll find more date details here.