Swedish Punk Band Refused at Terminal 5 Refused The guitarist Jon Brannstrom, of this 1990s Swedish punk band, performing at Terminal 5 in Manhattan on Monday night. The group reunited at the Coachella festival. Like any sensible punk-rockers, the 1990s Swedish band Refused was skeptical about reuniting. Why would these old guys play these old songs? Dennis Lyxzen, the band's lead singer (and screamer), asked onstage at the sold-out Terminal 5 on Monday night, in its second New York City show after Refused regrouped for the Coachella festival. An uproarious mosh pit and more stationary listeners were glad that they did. The band's political rage, whipsaw precision and stage moves were all intact, with improved equipment. Refused originally lasted from 1991 to 1998. It was formed in Umea, in northern Sweden, by fans of "80s New York City-style hardcore. Mr. Lyxzen cheerfully described the band as "a bunch of Swedish posers." But by the time Refused made its 1997 album, "The Shape of Punk to Come," it had moved well beyond imitation. The band had long since mastered punk's blare and hardcore's gallop, but its songs weren't confined by genre. Even in 1991, playing punk and hardcore was a self-conscious choice, and Refused was well aware of music outside those categories. Its songs weren't simply hit-and-run blasts; they were shifty, multisectional compositions, veering into metal, hints of funk and even (in "Liberation Frequency," about reclaiming the airwaves) something like pop melody. "The Deadly Rhythm," after pummeling hardcore syncopations, suddenly moves into a jazzy walking bass line; "The Shape of Punk to Come" sprouts a new-wave guitar line. The contrast was clear when Refused welcomed one of its early New York hardcore idols, Lou Koller of Sick of It All, to go barreling through his band's more straightforward "Injustice System." Refused's lyrics mix hardcore's pugnacious self-affirmation - "Rather be forgotten than remembered for giving in" - with a streak of economic anger that the Occupy movement might recognize: "I got a bone to pick with capitalism and a few to break," proclaimed the opening song of the album and set, "Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Scull." Onstage the band members seemed anything but old. Mr. Lyxzen was lean, angular and constantly in motion: twitching, twirling, swinging and catching his microphone, showing off fast footwork, following a backward somersault immediately with a split. At one point he leaped into the moshing crowd during an instrumental passage, traversed it while staying upright and somehow steered himself back and up to the stage just before he had to sing the next verse. It was sweaty, full-tilt punk impact coupled with smart precision, exactly why Refused fans had hoped for a reunion. The band is scheduled to return to New York City for a concert on July 18 at the new Williamsburg Park.