Trettioariga Kriget - Trettioariga Kriget (1974)(2004)

Trettioåriga Kriget biography [progarchives.com]
Legendary Swedish heavy-progressive who released 6 albums between 1974 and 1992 (plus a retrospective in 1996) and reunited and released a couple of new albums from 2004 and on. However, the only addition to the normal guitar, bass and drums instrumentation is some mellotron here and there. It's musical excellence with plenty of extended gratuitous guitar jams and very intricate lyrics. I'd like to recommend this band to everyone but since the lyrics are in Swedish and such a big part of the music perhaps some might not understand it. In several ways, TRETTIOÅRIGA KRIGET ("The 30-year War" in English) can be compare to ÄNGLAGÅRD and LANDBERK to sense their influence.

The first, self-titled is in many ways like RUSH circa 1980. "Krigssång" is an album that fans of 70's rock in general will enjoy, and not just progressive rock listeners. In sum, this is one of the defining Scandinavian prog albums. The first two albums are necessary for any serious exploration of the region. The albums released after the reunion show that the band hasn't lost their touch!