Swedish Death Candy - Swedish Death Candy album review

Skull-rattling Scandinavian psychedelia

Cover art for Swedish Death Candy - Swedish Death Candy album

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

First of all, Swedish Death Candy are not Swedish, they’re British. They just hate that gross Swedish licorice. Join the club.

We could really drill down on the dark majesty of this blistering debut album if we had more time, the takeaway here is that it’s basically Neil Young if he was a punk rocker and planned on living forever. While they maintain a bedrock of swirvy, swirly doom - think Cathedral without the bullshit or Monster Magnet with more monster - this is really a pretty fucking groovy psychedelic rock’n’roll record. While it never goes so far that you’re lost in the woods forever, there are a good few minutes of hardcore, free-flowing, I-am-naked-and-maybe-dying moments in here, particularly during the pretty incredible single Love You Already and the skull-rattling opener Last Dream.

Like their spiritual forebears in JAMC, the Stooges or Daisy Chainsaw, SDC offer a near-perfect balance of pop perfection and bone-gnawing dissonance. No matter how noisy it gets, you’re never too far away from a tasty hook lurking just around the corner. Unlike the chewy fish they’re named after, this is some seriously tasty shit.

Sleazegrinder

Came from the sky like a 747. Classic Rock’s least-reputable byline-grabber since 2003. Several decades deep into the music industry. Got fired from an early incarnation of Anal C**t after one show. 30 years later, got fired from the New York Times after one week. Likes rock and hates everything else. Still believes in Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, against all better judgment.