This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The shape of punk to come? Could any album — or any band — live up to that billing? Maybe, maybe not. But Swedish politico-punks Refused are definitely light-years ahead of anything else out there.
Less an album than a musical manifesto of the band’s straight-edge revolution rock, SOPTC’s 12 tracks are an explosive chain of sonic grenades, a full metal racket loaded with complex arrangements, cacophonous experimentation, and even cello and violin samples. And how many punk bands have lyrics like “The destruction of everything is the creation of something new?” High-voltage and high-IQ. Not for the squeamish — or the stupid.
