I Borjan Och Slutet – In the beginning and the end (Mellotronen MelloCD023, 2007)
I Början Och Slutet is the eighth studio album by pioneering Swedish progressive rock band Trettioåriga Kriget (Thirty Years War). The first thing that stands out when you listen to the band is that it has developed its own progressive rock style, which is characterized by a fusion of symphonic rock, pop, folk-rock and psychedelic music. While other groups clearly show influences from British pioneers, the finely calibrated Trettioåriga Kriget sounds totally different.
I Början Och Slutet is a concept album that combines captivating instrumentals and Swedish language pieces. The instrumentals mix guitars with mellotron and driving bass. The bad leader is bassist Stefan Fredin and he clearly leaves his mark. Unlike other groups who mix harmonic mellotrons and solo keyboards, Trettioåriga Kriget doesn’t have much use for solo keyboards. Instead the vocals, guitars and bass play the leading role.
The best cuts are the pieces that go in a symphonic rock direction, such as the opening track ‘I Krigets Tid I’, the dreamy and bluesy ‘Barndom’, the melancholic ‘Lovsang,’ and the closing ‘I Krigets Tid II’
The musicians that appear in the album are Stefan Fredin on bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals; Dag Lundquist- drums, percussion, backing vocals; Robert Zima on vocals; Christer Åkerberg on electric and acoustic guitars; Mats Lindberg on keyboards; and
Olle Thörnvall provides the lyrics.
The booklet includes a 20 page booklet with band photos, the original lyrics and English language translations.