The Miserable Youth of Our Time – Kjells Bänk

The Miserable Youth of Our Time is the debut full-length album from Kjells Bänk, a punk/rock-band from Skellefteå, Sweden. The album follows an EP released last year. That EP had some really nice moments and showcased a band that didn’t sit idle in a singular trench. I was looking forward to hear how the band would handle the full-length format.

Turns out they handle it pretty damn well. Building on that mix of rock and punk, mixing the sound of The Hives with more traditional punkrock a’la Bad Religion and also some indierock at times. Overall the sound is better on this album, not overproduced but just sounds more full fletched. Kjells Bänk moves pretty seamlessy and without too much effort on the rock/punk-scale, perhaps not playing with the tempo as much as on the debut-EP, with some few exceptions as in Rooftop Blues. The result is more coherent and pulled together because of that, which in my ears is a good thing.

Lyrically it’s almost a concept album, dealing with being a youth in todays society, which makes you miserable, as is clearly stated in the title of the album. Overall well written from start to finish, no songs goes to waste but builds on the overall theme of the album.

Although the lyrical themes deals with youth and the struggles that comes with that, I wouldn’t say the overall sound screams adolescence in any way, being well played and with a really good sense of punk/rock-melody. It’s gonna be interesting to see where the band goes next, hopefully building on this and expanding their lyrical themes a bit. So many bands would be stoked with having made The Miserable Youth of Our Time anywhere in their career, and Kjells Bänk being able to do it as the debut is very impressive.