SvartePan - Nattvandring

*=Staff's pick	Det Var En Man Min Vän* Vill Ha Balladen Om Lillebror Gravsång Starkare* Möss & Människor* Dårarnas Palats* Sov Gott Drömmar

Genre	Hard Rock'n'Roll	Björn Holmdén	Vocals
Tracks	10	Conny Andersson	Guitar
Runningtime	53 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Ant Nest Records	Christian de Luxe	Bass
Release	14 Oct. 2004	Pelle Engvall	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Black Sabbath, Abramis Brama

Swedish band SvartePan is back with their second album and it sounds more professional, it is heavier and god dammit if it isn't even tighter than the last one. Bluesy and riff oriented hard rock, with their characteristic lyrics in Swedish and a sound that is reminding of the seventies. They have brought out more of their Black Sabbath influences and left out some of the other influences that you could hear on Sov Gott (2002), and it is all favourably if you ask me. Nattvandring is heavier and have a more compact sound, and furthermore it contains more of that nice groove that they have the ability to get going.

The album starts with a raw rock 'n' roller in Det Var En Man, and the groove is there right from the start. You feel that you get kicked into a good move right immediately. What made me first aware of the enhanced Sabbath mode is the harmonica part in Min Vän - listen to it and don't tell me you don't get a vibe of Black Sabbath's The Wizard there. The guys in SvartePan sound angrier now, or perhaps more determined, nevertheless there is something present in their music now that hasn't been there before, making it better. And the guitar part in Starkare might just be the best damn thing I've heard from the band, and Starkare (translated to english as Stronger) is further definitely one of the strongest songs on Nattvandring.

What is most positive about Nattvandring compared with Sov Gott, is that the song material is more even and holds a higher quality straight through. It is overall less ups and downs, but even if there arenn't any real downs, I surely miss a real killer track. At least one that sticks out a bit more than the rest would have made this album even better. The track Starkare is a minor peak, but it doesn't quite make it on its own. One more of that calibre would have been great.

When I first listened to their first album Sov Gott, I felt that I would really like to see them live if I could. Well, I still haven't seen them live, but now I want it even more. The production has made the sound as live as it can get without actually being live, and I still think that this will be a helluva lot better live than on album. They have a reputation of being a damn good live act, and I have no problems in believing that.