That was the name of the documentary series i saw on SVT, the swedish state television some odd months ago. It stuck with me. The concept is that they take a look on the swedish hard rock scene and it’s impact on other genres, countries and music overall. It’s a four part documentary that starts early, and ends in fairly recent times. I believe that this is a must watch for anyone who’s interested in music and the hard rock scene.
Anyways, as i wrote above, it stuck with me, as it introduced me to much new music, and reminded me of bands and acts that i listened to years ago, and made me revisit them. Below i will list three artists and bands that they mention in the documentary, that i have been listening to a lot since i watched this series.
On third place i have put Left Hand Path by Entombed. There’s something special about this album, and the sounds you hear in this rather early album, have influenced so many bands that came after, and to this day you still hear new productions that tries to sound like Entombed did on Left Hand Path.
On second place we have Bathory by Bathory. I’m not sure that Bathory needs an introduction, but this self-titled album is from 1984 and inspired almost all metal that came after it. This album was, and is a game changer, and it stays strong to this very day. As i wrote about Left Hand Path, you still hear references, influences and groups that try to mimic the Bathory sound to this very day.
On first place we have Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates. When they started to play the title track, Slaughter of the Soul, from this album in the documentary – i had to pause and listen straight through the album. It’s so good, and i got so caught up in it, that Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates ended up being my most played album of 2022, and At the Gates themself ended up being my second most played artist of 2022 – despite not being introduced to them until late september! This album has something that has been dubbed ”the gothenburg sound”, that is a very special sound, that you can hear to this day in many metal and hard rock acts. The most popular band that uses ”the gothenburg sound”, and that most will recognize it from is by the swedish band In Flames who came from the same area as At the Gates, outskirts of Gothenburg, and they started playing around the same time.
If you’re interested in watching Hårdrock på Export, as it’s called in swedish it’s available on SVT Play – however, i believe you might need to be inside of Sweden to be able to watch it. I saw that some beautiful soul put all music that they use in the series into a spotify playlist.
Until next time, take care.
SLQT
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