RIKTIGT ÄKTA

"Riktigt Äkta" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish progressive rock act Landberk. The album was released through the Norwegian Colours label in 1992. The original version features Swedish lyrics, but the band also released an English lyric version of the album titled "Lonely Land", also released in 1992. "Riktigt Äkta" was originally only released on vinyl, but was reissued on CD in 1995.

Stylistically the material on "Riktigt Äkta" is a combination of Scandinavian folk and progressive rock. Album opener "I Nattens Timma" is an example of the folk influences being dominant, and I was actually sure that this was a Swedish traditional, that Landberk had opted to cover, but as it turns out the song is penned by Landberk. It´s an early highlight of the album and an incredibly beautiful and sombre folk influenced track featuring omnipresent use of the mellotron and some effectful and well written Swedish lyrics.

"I Nattens Timma" is a clever, mellow, and intriguing track, but it´s also a fairly minimalistic song in terms of instrumentation and vocals. The same can be said about the remaining mateial, although Landberk do perform more busy sections (featuring heavy bass and drums) and occasionally rock a little harder like they do on "Skogsrået", "Trädet", and on the CD bonus track "Tillbaka". The music features a lot of acoustic guitars and mellow vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist Patric Helje, who has a pleasant but not particularly distinct sounding voice. The vocals aren´t the most dominant part of the album though, as much of the music is instrumental.

The music includes mellotron and organ in addition to bass, guitars, drums, and vocals, and it´s definitely 70s influenced retro sounding progressive rock, and if you´re familar with some of the Swedish artists from the 70s like Kaipa, Trettioåriga Kriget, and Sinkadus, the sound of Landberk won´t come as a huge surprise, although they have their own dark forest/folky spin on the genre. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.