release date: Oct. 18, 1999
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Mikael Herrström, Joakim Thåström and Henryk Lipp
label: Mistlur Records - nationality: Sweden
Track highlights: 1. "Från himlen sänt" - 2. "En vackar död stad" - 3. "Hjärter dam" - 5. "Två + två" (live) - 6. "Städer när jag blöder" - 10. "Psalm #99"
3rd solo album by Thåström released more than 8 years following his most recent solo album, and after three consecutive studio albums released from '92-'97 with the band Peace, Love & Pitbulls, which only was active in this period. Thåström is still associated with the Mistlur label, although that label is by now a sublabel owned by MNW.
Thåström's second solo album Xplodera mig 2000 showed us a more aggressive and more hard rockin' Thåström than heard before, and that energy was continued and came to its full extent in the short-lived band he formed with Peter Lööf, Rikard Sporrong and Niklas Hellberg while living in Amsterdam. In 1998 Thåström and Hellberg co-wrote and released the album Singoalla - music for a theatre show based on a novel by Viktor Rydberg from 1857.
Det är ni som e dom konstiga... ['You are strange, I'm normal'] is his first studio album with songs in his native language since his '91 solo album, and it really follows closely in the footsteps of that particular album, as if he hadn't taken a move into industrial metal and singing in English on three other albums. Yes, there's still room for industrial rock, but that step had already been taken in the early 90s, and when listening to the music by Peace, Love & Pitbulls with its bold use of (vocal) distortion it's easy to point out the difference between industrial rock and the more extreme metal-version of the style, which is much closer the early albums by Marilyn Manson than any Thåström solo album.
I didn't listen to this album until after entering the new millennium, but it does have a strong and original touch with a mix of styles. It's not entirely just a bunch of hard rock compositions, as there's a nice blend of harmony-based songs scattered all over the album, and I also hear reminiscences of the old Ebba Grön sound and style - most openly in the song "Städer när jag blöder", which would have made a perfect entry on the first album by his old punk rock collaborators in Ebba Grön. A few tracks bond with the more white noise music of Love, Peace & Pitbulls but other compositions have more in common with his later move into a more apparent singer / songwriter universe (e.g. "Hjärter dam"), and that's also where he concludes the album with "Psalm #99".
The album was generally met by positive reviews from the Swedish music press and the audience who had longed for the day when he would make another album with Swedish lyrics. The album topped the national albums chart list and the first of three singles from the album, "Två + två" reached number #10 on the singles chart list.
Where Explodera mig 2000 showed Thåström experiment with styles and almost stumble into industrial rock, this album reveals a more mature version of his fascination for high energy rock, which blends much richer with music from his past. All in all, a fine release, although, he still seems in search of a unique style of his.
Det är ni som e dom konstiga... ['You are strange, I'm normal'] is his first studio album with songs in his native language since his '91 solo album, and it really follows closely in the footsteps of that particular album, as if he hadn't taken a move into industrial metal and singing in English on three other albums. Yes, there's still room for industrial rock, but that step had already been taken in the early 90s, and when listening to the music by Peace, Love & Pitbulls with its bold use of (vocal) distortion it's easy to point out the difference between industrial rock and the more extreme metal-version of the style, which is much closer the early albums by Marilyn Manson than any Thåström solo album.
I didn't listen to this album until after entering the new millennium, but it does have a strong and original touch with a mix of styles. It's not entirely just a bunch of hard rock compositions, as there's a nice blend of harmony-based songs scattered all over the album, and I also hear reminiscences of the old Ebba Grön sound and style - most openly in the song "Städer när jag blöder", which would have made a perfect entry on the first album by his old punk rock collaborators in Ebba Grön. A few tracks bond with the more white noise music of Love, Peace & Pitbulls but other compositions have more in common with his later move into a more apparent singer / songwriter universe (e.g. "Hjärter dam"), and that's also where he concludes the album with "Psalm #99".
The album was generally met by positive reviews from the Swedish music press and the audience who had longed for the day when he would make another album with Swedish lyrics. The album topped the national albums chart list and the first of three singles from the album, "Två + två" reached number #10 on the singles chart list.
Where Explodera mig 2000 showed Thåström experiment with styles and almost stumble into industrial rock, this album reveals a more mature version of his fascination for high energy rock, which blends much richer with music from his past. All in all, a fine release, although, he still seems in search of a unique style of his.
