Shotgun Messiah may be the perfect '90s band. Too high praise for a Swedish duo on an indie label? Well, let me explain. Music progresses by the melding of different sounds from the past into an entirely new whole, not by leaps into the darkness, regardless of what the ads tell us; even punk had its antecedents in '60s garage bands and heavy metal. The point is, musicians pick through their their personal pasts and create their own futures. New sounds emerge, bandwagons roll and the press and populace go wild (e.g. Nirvana).

As the Pistols now epitomize punk and Nirvana grunge, so Shotgun will eventually epitomize a yet unnamed new style, fusing the frenetic energy of punk, the aggressiveness of industrialism with a driving techno beat, all wrapped up in memorable songs with striking lyrics.