Kent – Du & Jag Döden (2005)

The Swedish alternative rock band Kent is probably the biggest Nordic band that hasn't become popular outside the Nordic Countries. The reason for this is simply that they sing in Swedish and there's hardly a market for that outside the Nordics. Kent attempted to make a couple of their albums in English as well, but the result was never as good as the original Swedish albums. I'm quite happy to just listen to them in Swedish. I already listened to Kent quite a lot in the 90s, but it was the couple of albums in the early 00s that made them super popular. Du & Jag Döden is the last album with the lead guitarist Harri Mänty and after this album Kent started adopting a lot more electronic sounds into their music. I don't particularly like any albums after this and that's why I often think of Du & Jag Döden as the final Kent album.



I also think Du & Jag Döden is the best album Kent ever released. It's a culmination of their excellent career. The songwriting on this album is amazing. There's just the right amount of melancholy and the sounds are just as amazing as you can expect from a long-standing Swedish band. I do like the rougher sounds on Kent's early albums as well, but it's definitely a pleasure to listen to production that has been fine-tuned to perfection.

I'm very disappointed that I bought the special edition of this album. Why? Because I feel like I was tricked and I didn't get what I wanted. I really like the cover of this album. The jewel case CD is not completely see-through like normally, but it's darkened and makes the cover look amazing. The special edition came in a black bag, so I didn't really know what to find inside. All I knew was that there was some additional material in there. When I opened the bag, I was really disappointed. The CD was not in the cover I so liked. It was just in a cardboard sleeve that doesn't even have a back I can find in my CD collection. The extra material was mainly cardboard pictures and those made it feel like there was the proper CD case inside. I really think I should've been warned about this when buying the special edition.

The albums starts really darkly with trebled-up bass in the song 400 slag, which sounds like it's gotten lots of influences from 80s post-punk, but it has been spiced up with carefully selected strings and studio tricks. Du är ånga continues with dark post-punk influences. The metallic tube amp sounds are quite glorious. This is Kent probably in its heaviest. Den döda vinkeln was my favourite song from this album for a long time. The melody is just phenomenally catchy and beautiful. I also like how the interplay between quiet and loud has been conducted. Du var min armé is a bit more relaxed than the previous songs. It's still dark and melancholic, but there's more hope in the melody and the sounds are lighter. Palace & Main was another massive hit song from this album and for a good reason. The song is truly a catchy masterpiece. The chorus always makes me nod along, no matter where I am. Järnspöken is the first proper ballad on this album. Like people who know Kent will know, the ballads show Joakim Berg's vocals in the best light. There's beautiful trembling in his voice when it's quiet enough. Klåparen sounds more like the early Kent albums. For some reason the drum sounds in particular remind me of those times when Kent wasn't yet as masterful in the production of their albums. It sounds purer in a way. Max 500 was probably the first single released from the album and it's definitely the song I first heard from this album. Right from the first notes it was clear that this album is going to be something truly special. The dark melancholy is just insanely good in this song. Romeo återvänder ensam sounds a lot like the band's previous hit album Vapen & Ammunition, because the studio production is in its hight in this one. It's not necessarily that good a thing, because the song gets a bit too clean as a result. Rosor & palmblad is another quiet ballad mostly played on a grand piano and acoustic guitar. It's great how the song grows going into the chorus. The album ends gloriously with Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare). This is one of the greatest songs Kent has ever released and I'm just getting shivers in my spine when I'm listening to it right now. There's explosive power in the song and the length of almost 7 minutes gives it time to reveal the best Kent has to offer.

I saw Kent live in Finland on the tour following this album. It was an amazing gig and I feel like there couldn't have been a better time to see them live. At that point Kent had released all of their greatest albums and none of the not so good ones. The gig was in a huge tent and it was sold out a few times. Not all of the people fit in to the tent, so we were fortunate enough to get close enough to see something and be in the dark to appreciate all of the lights.

I have to link the music video for Max 500 here. After all, that was the video I first saw from this album. It features the band in a cottage in the wilderness playing the song. It's winter, it's dark and it's all very melancholic. This is how the album is and this is how the Nordic state of mind is. There's not much of a storyline, but it still captures the mood of the album perfectly.

I haven't listened to Kent in a long time. I probably got a bit too much of them back in the day and the sounds are a bit outdated for today. However, when I'm listening to this album now, I'm again overcome with the magic this album conjured all those years ago when it was released. I think I should listen to it a lot more.

Listen to the album on Spotify.