Home From Home often gets a bad reputation from Millencolin fans as the sell-out album featuring bland commercial Foo Fighters inspired stadium rock. Personally, I actually like this style; but more importantly, the fans were running around like the sky was falling down just based on a handful of songs amongst a varied album. As the first album to deviate from the much-loved style of Pennybridge Pioneers and earlier albums, it seems Home From Home took a hit for introducing the idea that Millencolin weren't going to continue writing songs in this style until the day they died.
And how is this related to Kingwood, you may ask? Well, this album was hailed as a "return to form", but I think this is a misconception. Home From Home merely debuted a new style on a couple of songs and Kingwood just continues this theme, by which time people's outrage to the change had run its course.
When looking up other reviews of this album, interestingly I found a wild array of opinions about how this album fits stylistically in Millencolin's catalogue, musical influences for this album and what the best songs are. It's similar to polarising, but actually inspires a wide range of reactions- perhaps a "fragmenting" album?! Anyway, here's my take on it...
The recording quality is terrible for about half of the songs. Sorry for another rant, but it actually had me wondering if my stereo was broken! Many of the songs are clipped (perhaps that is the "evil" Foo Fighters influence at work, after all!), causing terrible distortion, especially for the cymbals. Also, the bass guitar is sometimes really boomy, with certain notes being barely heard and others standing out like a sore thumb.
Most times when I'm chin scratching about recording quality, it is something I have to actively keep an ear out for. But this album is the opposite, it is something that requires effort to ignore. Thankfully it doesn't affect all songs; the worst afflicted are Farewell My Hell, Birdie, Cash or Clash, Biftek Supernova (this one can be excused, it kind of suits the song), Stalemate and Hard Times. Rant over, onto the songs...
Farewell My Hell is a competent opening song, quickly establishing the energy and style of the album. The chorus of Cash or Clash is perhaps "too" pop-punk, sounding like a cheesy ditty. But they nailed it for Birdie- its catchy pop-punk style is vintage Millencolin goodness. Combined with the headbanging verses, this is one of my favourite songs on the album.
Millencolin can't resist a big rock ballad from time to time, and Shut You Out is a wonderfully polished example. The layering of guitars throughout and singalong chorus are highlights for me. Stalemate is similar, and also features a fantastic chorus.
Biktek Supernova and Simple Twist of Hate are just fast-paced moshpit thrashes. They're fine for this purpose, but personally I'd rather just listen to an earlier Millencolin album instead. Ray is also quite similar to their older fast-paced punk-rock. As per the earlier albums, the combination of guitars at maximum attack with humble lyrics baring the softer side of humanity works a treat.
Speaking of lyrics, while most songs feature interesting lyrics, I note the lack of any tongue-in-cheek songs about motorbikes, falling in love with a plant, etc. It's a bit sad to see they've "grown up" in this aspect.
The riff-rock style introduced by Home From Home makes an appearance in My Name is Golden (the eggcorn of the title is brilliant!). I'm pleased to report decent recording quality for this one, and the headbanging chorus is a treat. Hard Times is similar.
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