It is not very often that you see members of a pop-punk band branch out and decide to put out a solo album.  Sure there have been side projects like Boxcar Racer, Bad Astronaut, and The Transplants that contained one or more of the band members in another band setting, but no one has really ventured out and decided to expose themselves via a solo project.  Apparently no one told Millencolin’s front man Nikola Sarcevic who recently released “Lock-Sport-Krock.” 

There are several different sounds on this record from folk, country, and even some 50’s style rock and roll.  The album begins with “Lovetrap” a simple song driven solely by the acoustic guitar and has a great hook, which is the case for most of the songs on this album.  “Viola” features a xylophone and acoustic guitar while Sarcevic sings, “what will you say when you find out I’m lazy and quite lame, what will you say if I think it’s too soon to share last names?”  The acoustic guitar is the sole instrument for most songs on this album from “Goodbye I Die” to the title track, with each song mildly contributing other instruments like a harmonica or xylophone.  Sarcevic takes a different direction with “Nobody Without You” a more up-tempo track where the harmonica and electric guitar reign supreme, but it’s the songwriting that falters.  It is hard to take the song seriously with lines like, “I’m nobody without you just a freak, I’m like a bucket with a leak Oh boy, I’m weak” or better yet, “Without your loving, without you I am weak, Without your huggin I’m nothing but a freak.”  “Glue Girl” sounds like a 50’s rock song, while “Mirror Man” is reminiscent of country music from that era. “You Make My World Go Around” a song that uses only the piano, is Sarcevic at his best vocally and musically and is probably the best song on the album.

This is definitely a different direction than Millencolin, which is what solo, or side projects should do, but it’s not so different that fans of the band could not enjoy it.  The weakest link in “Lock-Sport-Krock” is the lyrics; they are so juvenile at times that it can make it hard to take some of the songs seriously.  Another drawback to the album is the simplicity of some of the songs; the same verse chorus verse chorus coupled with the lyrics can make it a boring listen after several plays.  This is not a bad debut for a solo album, and I do look forward to hearing what Nikola Sarcevic puts out next.