Injustice for all – NONTHEWISER

Swedish punkrockers NONTHEWISER follows up their 2023 self- titled album with the four-track EP Injustice for all.

For those who haven’t heard the band before, they play punkrock influenced by Bad Religion. In my review of their debut album I thought it sounded almost uncannily much like them, but it was still a well crafted album. The band doesn’t sway far from that recipe on this EP either. It’s nicely produced and nicely written.

The music mixes the quick punkrock sound with a mid-tempo lyrical delivery, which makes it a pretty easy listening experience. Lyrically it’s political, leaning a bit toward the American side of things. Injustice, right wing politics, immigration and gun violence are among the topics covered. It’s once again a sober, bleak and true picture that’s being painted. It’s all nicely written, although it might not hit too close to home, which is a trade off one makes when writing music for a broader audience than the one at home. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, one of my all-time favourites, Voice of a Generation, did the exact same thing.

I thought the debut lacked a little bit of grit, but that’s not something that bothers me on this release, it hits a good mix of sleek production and a little bit of gruffness. The harmonies are there as well in a nice way. I’ve been writing this a little bit on and off during a week, and each time I listen through the EP it grows on me a little bit more on me. None of the four tracks feels like a weak spot, and there is a nice coherence between them.

Injustice for all is a record that grows after some time listening to it, and there’s no doubt NONTHEWISER can write a punkrock tune. But again, I miss a little bit of a unique style here, exactly what I said about their first release. Solid and good, but perhaps hard to pick out from a line of suspects in the same subgenre.