The Satanic Surfers are a five-piece Swedish group that sings political punk with the occasional pop song. Their latest release "Unconsciously Confined" is on Bad Taste Records.
Reading through the lyrics of the Surfers, you'll notice that 3/4 of their songs are political in nature. The first song "Forfeiture" says: "People slave every f***ing day working their a*es off cause there's mouth to feed and rents to pay, and that's how the government wants things to stay." The Swedes also show their Socialist ways in "Don't Let Silence Be An Option:" "3/4 of the human race are dying in extreme poverty in the stranglehold of Capitalism."
The music that accompanies the Surfers brand of political punk is similar to Propagandhi and Bad Religion. "Unconsciously Confined" is supposed to be poppier than the band's older stuff, but there are only three pop songs on the album: "Bittersweet," "The Sing-Along Summer-Song" and "Pecan Pie." The best tracks on the disc are the three pop songs and "Diversity," which is interesting because it goes back and forth between the pop and almost spoken word vocals. But ultimately, their music gets lost behind the message and is really mediocre because of the vocals.
Having said that, the only thing worse than their name, which is the only thing people will remember them for, is their message. It's not all bad because they do point out the importance of how wrong it is for women to stay in abusive relationships just so kids can have two parents and the Surfers also seem to generally want to make the world better, but their way of going about it is all wrong. The line from "Diversity" pretty much sums their feelings on Christianity: "But one thing we don't need is the Ten Commandments."
C
Other coverage for this album
Opus 2002Reviewed by Matt FinkAlthough the majority of the recent glut of musical imports from Sweden have been innocent enough, with garage rockers like the Hives and pristine experimental popsters like the Moonbabies adding a little variation to the staid ranks of contemporary popular music, it's obvious with even a cursory listen to the Satanic Surfers' latest effort that they aren't nearly as successful in presenting a…Similar sounding releases
2000LogosWhen Life Seems Senseless
1997Pocket ChangeSteadfast
1999Noggin TobogganSnapcase
1996MxPxMove To Bremerton
1997Value PacJalapeño
2002Dag NastyMinority Of One
