The Daily Spin, May 14
Kent | Vapen & ammunition
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Vapen & ammunition (2002)
Artist: Kent
Link:
It seems only fitting after their Eurovision win to review an album by a Swedish group, though this is merely joyful coincidence rather than anything planned - we couldn’t’ve predicted that things would shake out as they did. A moment of serendipity, then.
The Nordic countries have a storied history in the world of music - from ABBA to Kygo, A-ha to Royksopp, there’s no shortage of big names to reflect back on, yet I feel I’ve missed something by having never familiarized myself with Kent until now.
As a sort of proto-The Royal Concept, trading the electronic elements that would popularize that group’s efforts in favor of heavier rock elements (typical for the early 2000s, I should note), this group absolutely nails the energy that I hope they’re trying to create, which is to say that a lot of these tracks would go brilliantly on a FIFA soundtrack, and that is as high of praise as I am willing to offer most any act.
They lose their footing a bit in the slower songs - it’s not the right sort of atmosphere, an incongruent pairing. When they pick up the pace and let the guitars roll forward, it’s that unbridled energy that sustains so much of what really kicks ass about this album - look at ‘Karleken vantar’ - even though it’s not the paciest song on the record, letting that one guitar chug along gives the entire song motion in a way that tracks like ‘Duett’ are missing.
One part butt rock, one part pretty excellent indie pop, all together you get music that should very much be in my lane - and I wish that it were.
Rating: 7.3/10
Best Tracks: Karleken vantar; Parlor
Worst Tracks: Hur jag fick dig att alska mig; Duett