Blandbladen means "among the leaves" in Swedish, and they're one of those jam-oriented stoner/psych bands that Sweden apparently grows by the batch with hydroponics. Passing comparisons could be made to some of their better contemporaries--Colour Haze, or La Ira De Dios--but Blandbladen is zeroing in on a more retro, less modern version of space rock. Ozric Tentacles strike me as the most logical comparison, as both bands seem obsessed with the same Hawkwind, Ash Ra Tempel, and Gong records, both eschew vocals, both are more than competent at what they do, but neither are charismatic enough to hold my attention for very long.

I've got a soft spot for the era I Grevens Tid most strongly evokes, so my tolerance for this sort of thing is higher than most, I'd guess. And as far as evocation, Blandbladen hit all the right notes--warm Fender Rhodes playing, rockin' but never heavy guitar, a rhythm section content to repetitively mine the groove as the rest of the band layers over--but it's hard to shake the feeling that everything on here has been done better before, and more skillfully updated since. Two of these extended jams ("I Grevens Tid" and "I Afton Trans") follow the exact same pattern: a long build up with multiple solos, then a sharp drop at about the halfway mark to a more down-tempo, ambient space-blues section (which is usually more interesting). Along the way, every player gets to strut his stuff, lots of weird sound effects float overhead, inauthentic stabs at middle-eastern harmonics are attempted. . . I can't help but think that part of the reason these workouts strike me as so faceless is the lack of a vocalist. I'm not a huge vocal fan, but it could go a long way towards giving indistinguishable jam rock an individual personality, some sense of the human lost within all this druggy jamming.

"I Afton Trans," the third cut, is probably the best of the bunch, owing mostly to the nifty second half that successfully recreates the cool, slow kosmiche of Ash Ra Temple, albeit not as well. But there's not much to differentiate it from the other tracks. The general issue with this record is encapsulated in the soloing, which is always more than adequate but always lacking that extra punch to really leap over the top and set these jams on fire.

I Grevens Tid isn't a bad record, and if you're in the market for devoutly retro extended psych-prog, you could do worse than picking it up. If you've got a head full of drugs and a good beer, I'm sure their live show is a blast. Blandbladen could be one to watch, if their next record has a little more of its own personality. It's nice to see a young band concerned with authentically realizing the kickass jams of a time before rock had split into myriad subgenres, but until they get more convincing (or more unique), I'm going to stick with the real thing.

-Lucas Kane