This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
This is starting to get silly already. Pretty much every time you turn around this year, you’re tripping over another great rock ’n’ roll band from Sweden.
This week’s entry are Division Of Laura Lee, a foursome following hard on the heels of The Hives, Randy and (International) Noise Conspiracy. On their debut domestic full-length Black City, DOLL (love that acronym) display all the usual symptoms of garage-rock greatness: Chunky hack ’n’ slash guitar riffs, rock-solid go-go punk beats, and the primal intensity of Detroit icons like The MC5 and Stooges. But along with that, they bring some new elements to the table: The metallic angularity of Wire, the buzzy paranoia of Girls Against Boys, the gloom ’n’ doom chill of Joy Division and a penchant for adding police sirens and street noise into their songs (which makes this an unnerving disc to play in the car). Put it all together and you’ve got yet another reason to suspect the Swedes are trying to take over the world with a race of genetically modified super-rockers.
