Gudars Skymning “Olycksfågl” (Transubstans)

Gudars Skymning (”Dawning of the Gods” or more like ”Holy Shit!!”) is one of the many high-quality Swedish retro-rock bands. On their seventh album, they have, however, taken a slightly different path. It’s still retro, still fat riffs, and always in Swedish, but “Olycksfågel” (a person with bad luck) is a concept album. The songs, at least some of them, are woven together with spoken words. Some tracks are quite theatrical in their approach, and the album is highly dynamic. I like it, I must say. It’s kinda hard to pop in a listen to ONE song here and there, even if tracks like “Orions Schakaler” stand up for themselves, but there’s a flow through the album that gets lost if you pick bits and pieces. The production is first class with an exact analog harsh, but without sounding lo-fi or artificial 70s. I like the guitar sound with its relatively modest but instrumental distortion. Several songs also build up in a friendly way, such as “Monoliten vid rickets gränd,” which seamlessly transcends into “Torn av ” with its heavy and slow riffs.