Tear Them Down – Their Fault, Our Problem

We all know Sweden for its fine blond women, Ikea and collection of skatepunk bands who earned their share of succes years ago. Tear Them Down from Gothenburg on the other hand combine working class sing-along punk as forged by Dropkick Murphy’s with modern Ramones-esque punk rock à la Teenage Bottlerocket. And in contradiction to Ikea, Tear Them Down are not generic and doesn’t  fall apart after you use it a couple of times.

Founded in 2010, released an EP in 2011 and in January of this year the Swedes released their full-length. ‘Their Fault, Our Problem’ sounds like the album title suggests: straightforward and rebellious. The fourteen tracks remind you of a combination of the previously mentioned bands, Dropkick Murphy’s and Teenage Bottlerocket. Added with some melodic guitar work and vocal harmonies as used by Bad Religion and NOFX to complete the formula. All in all the songs are catchy as hell and only require a few turns of listening before you can sing along. Listen to “Election” or the first track “Bomb City” and you get the idea. The good thing is that Tear Them Down manage to write those songs without sounding too simple or sound like they’re cloning any bands. Sure, this type of punk rock isn’t groundbreaking or new, but it sure as hell will appeal to a lot of people. And with a full scale touring schedule I’m positive these guys will earn their share in today’s punk rock scene.

Tear Them Down doesn’t lean on the Swedish succes stories of the 90’s, but came up with their own authentic formula. ‘Their Fault, Our Problem’ is full of political and working class lyrics for everyone to sing along and have a good time. Tear Them Down bring back the energy, rebellion and fun the punk rock scene lacks nowadays.

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