RESA MOT OKÄNT MÅL

Kebnekaise is a still active Swedish band found by guitarist Kenny Hakansson in Stockholm in 1971.Hakansson was a famous studio guitarist already from the 60's,having played next to Bo Hansson,Leonard Cohen and Michael Ramel.He was also a member of the Blues/Psych Rock band Mecki Mark Men,led by organist Mecki Bodemark.After his departure from Mecki Mark Men,Kenny recruited bassist Bella Fehrlin,drummer Pelle Ekman and guitarist Rolf Scherrer to complete the original Kebnekaise line-up and release the debut ''Resa mot okant mal'' in 1971 on the Silence label.

Despite being known mostly as an folk/prog rock act,this album contains standard guitar- based hard rock,influenced by the likes of MOUNTAIN and THE CREAM and sounding similar to very early RUSH at times.Powerful playing with often dual guitars,bluesy influences,catchy solos and a humurous edge around is what the listener will face here with a very dynamic rhythm section backing up.The performance is really decent,but what actually spoils the album is the lack of any kind of surprises and the abscence of some personal approach.A few Scandinavian traces can be found here and there,but they are only traces,far from what this band actually had to offer.Additionally the vocals are rather dull and definitely not for my taste.

The feeling this album leaves the listener is the same with the top of the Kebnekaise mountain,after which the band was named: Cold.Recommended only for fans of early-70's guitar-driven hard rock but with no appeal to prog fans at all.