20 May 2018

Kent "Då som nu för alltid" (2016)

Då som nu för alltid
release date: May 20, 2016
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Kent
label: RCA Records / Sony Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Andromeda" (4 / 5) - 2. "Tennsoldater" - 3. "Vi är för alltid" 4/ 5) - 4. "Den vänstra stranden" - 5. "Nattpojken & dagflickan" (feat. Anna Ternheim) (4 / 5) - 6. "Vi är inte längre där" - 7. "Förlåtelsen" - 11. "Den sista sången"

12th and final studio album by Kent. Yes... alas, this is the final studio album by the best band in Scandinavia for more than two decades. The album was already proclaimed the final long before the release, as they had made the deal to do only one more and also found they might as well announce it in due time. The year is coming to an end, and I believe they just decided to continue playing the year out on their farewell tour. As it says in their promotion video [at 02:24]: "16 Maj 1990 – 17 Dec. 2016"... it comes to an end on the last day of the tour on the 17th.
Then, what is it like the last album? And no, it doesn't stir up things in the last minute. It's... going out with grandiosity. How could it be any different from this band of (almost) self-proclaimed pretentiousness?! Kent has always been a band who did it their very own way - stood in the spotlight but never did what the fans nor the critics wanted. They did it for themselves, and if people liked it, then fine! And they never paid much attention to what was hip - in what directions others went nor how the international trends were, and that's just one of the reasons so many pay respect to this band.
Då som nu för alltid ['Then as now forever'] sounds like Kent and no one else. It's not far from the last three albums except from being more melancholic and slightly slower than perhaps ever before. They have turned down a bit on the synthpop part and reclaimed a more pop / rock sound from earlier days without exactly repeating themselves.
The album is not their best - neither their worst. It's more than just a decent exit. Initially, I found it among their least inspiring albums, but as always with Kent, they have made an album that keeps growing until you let it in, and all of a sudden you find yourself highlighting most of the tracks to your own surprise. And the end song "Den sista sången" ['The Last Song'] is just spot on in the spirit of this great band. It's over the top pretentious, but still just in that Kent-dignified way that only makes it more than Okay. And yes, they mean it - it's the end of the line.
As much as I enjoy another chapter with Kent, it's unfortunately the last - the very last, and that's the sad news. All good things come to an end. As it reads on Discogs: "With eleven #1 albums, five #1 singles, 23 Swedish Grammy Awards, and over 3 million record sales, Kent is considered the most popular rock / pop group within Sweden and throughout Scandinavia."
Like it reads on the inlay: "Tack & Förlåt!"
Recommendable.
[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6, Gaffa.no, Gaffa.se, Expressen 4 / 6, Rockbladet 4,5 / 5 stars ]


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