I BÖRJAN OCH SLUTET

I Början Och Slutet is Trettioåriga Kriget's second album since they returned to the music industry with "Elden Av År" in 2004. I regard that album as their best ever, so I approached the new one with a little anxiety. The CD starts with the majestic instrumental ("I Krigets Tid"), a track that includes all the well known Trettioåriga Kriget attributes like Stefan Fredin's very legible and upfront bass and Christer Åkerberg clear guitar tone. The production, done by the band's drummer Dag Lundquist is simply superb, giving the album a very transparent sound. A good example of that is "Barndom" and "Ungdom", two slightly psychedelic and Doors sounding tracks. "Ungdom II" is yet another instrumental, this time dominated by Christer Åkerbergs guitar. I'm a guitar freak but strangely enough I think this is the least successful number on the CD. Next up is "Benke", an atmospheric piece of work with a fine melodic touch. "Lovsång" starts slow and soft but the intensity gradually increases largely due to Mats Lindberg's massive pan-pipe sounding keyboards. "Öknen", a fine if unspectacular number leads directly into the superb "S-bahn" one of my favourite and heaviest tracks on this CD. After a quiet opening, "Floden" slowly grows into a powerful crescendo and on this song Christer Åkerberg shows what an immaculate guitarist he is. "Ryttaren", the next song has some magical and beautiful instrumental parts and once again the guitars are in the forefront. After that it's time for the catchy yet majestic and powerful title track "I Början Och Slutet", a song that must rank as the band's best ever. The album fittingly ends with part two of the instrumental "I Krigets Tid". No other band (that I know of) sounds like Trettioåriga Kriget, and that is no mean feat these days when conformity is the name of the game. Do yourself a favour and get hold of this album.