TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET

An intriguing debut marred by unfortunately mediocre production values, Trettioariga Kriget's debut album is a sprightly and aggressive psych-prog tour de force. With lyrics in the band's native Swedish, the group were apparently part of the "progg" scene in 1970s Sweden, of which Samla Mammas Manna were also proponents - a movement that should not be mistaken for being analogous to our prog scene, though obviously there were bands such as those two who were part of both worlds. As far as Kriget go, their guitar-lead psych-rock is not enormously avant-garde or progressive, but it's competently performed and may be of interest to people keen on seeing what the guitar heroes of Sweden were getting up to in 1974.