SVARTEPAN 'Nattvandring' 2004 Swedish retro Stoner Rock CD
Format: CD Condition: MINT Year of Release: 2004 Cat. No.: ANRCD003 Label: ANT NEST Country of Origin: SWEDEN
The ’70 are gone. Finished. Past tense. Which is a good thing, of course. I can’t really imagine myself with the long hair and the bell bottoms any more. Still, the rock music of those days is still very precious to me and I catch myself very often listening to that old music, or at least music that is deeply rooted in the 70’s. A lot of bands seem to have the same sentiments, and (coincidentally?) quite a number of them are from Sweden. SvartePan is another one of those retro bands that try very hard to bring back the spirit of the seventies, and they manage pretty well.
The band was formed in 1999, when the instrumental trio The Black Pan joined forces with singer Björn Holmdén. “Nattvandring” is their second album. They are generally categorized under ‘stoner rock’, although I think they are far more subtle than most of the bands that play this style. Their influences are late 60’s/early 70’s bands like Nazareth, Blue Cheer, Deep Purple, Swedish hard rock legends November, and ? obviously - Black Sabbath, with a healthy dose of bluesy hard rock à la Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix.
The album features some pretty neat musicianship, with great riffs and solos and thundering drums, just the way I like them. The vocals aren’t really great, but they fit the music well, although the lyrics are in Swedish and that may be a bit hard to swallow for the non-Scandinavians among us.
I enjoyed this album a lot more than I expected to. If you’re into this kind of retro music, and if you can live with the Swedish vocals, give it a try. It might very well be to your liking.
Track Listing:
Det Var En Man Min Vän Vill Ha Balladen Om Lillebror Gravsäng Starkare Möss & Människor Dårarnas Palats Sov Gott Drömmar
