Favorite Swedish Artists

This page is in alphabetical order, so the genres are all mixed. Makes it more interesting IMHO :-)

A.C.T

Progressive rock band. The drummer is also member of the progmetal band Andromeda. Last Epic is a great concept album — worth checking out if you're into the harder part of progressive rock (with some Dream Theater influences).

Anna Ternheim

Singer-songwriter (I hate that name). Did a cover of Broder Daniel's Shoreline. Her debut album Somebody Outside (which features the Shoreline cover) is definitely worth checking out — especially the limited edition with a bonus CD which contains "naked" versions of some of her songs.

Bo Kaspers Orkester

Pop/rock combined with jazz. Very laid-back and nice.

Broder Daniel

Rock band with horrible, yet good, vocals.

David & the Citizens

Pop/rock/indie/folky. Great band, just great. If you like them you should also check out David Fridlund's solo album Amaterasu.

Esbjörn Svensson Trio

Jazz.

Evergrey

Metal that feels fresh and interesting (as opposed to all power metal clones or other boring metal bands). Great live. From Sveriges framsida.

Helen Sjöholm

Has a beautiful voice and has done some truly awesome songs.

Håkan Hellström

Pop/rock. Used to play in Broder Daniel. Can't sing, but does so anyway, and does it good. And in Swedish.

Jens Lekman

Pop/rock/indie from Sveriges framsida. Some songs are extremely laid-back and slow, with focus on Jens' vocals. Others are full of music with trumpets and strings. Funny and interesting lyrics.

JustD

Hip-Hop. They did some seriously funny lyrics (in Swedish).

Katatonia

Rock/metal band. Their latest albums have been pretty mellow. Their older material is supposed to be more metal.

Moneybrother

Pop/rock/soul/indie. Just listen to They're Building Walls Around Us.

Nordman

Pop/folk. Very big in the 90s. Swedish lyrics.

Opeth

Progressive Death Metal. Mixes death metal (including growls) with mellow parts and "real vocals". Those of you who don't like the death metal stuff might be happy to know that their album Damnation has no growls or metal riffs — but is instead highly influenced by progressive rock music of the 70s, in particular the band Camel.

Paatos

Progressive rock.

Pain of Salvation

Very diverse progressive rock/metal band. The song Used from The Perfect Element Part I might get you hooked if you give it a chance. The live acoustic album 12:5 — featuring re-arranged versions of old Pain of Salvation songs — should appeal to anyone with the slightest interest in music. Ashes is especially beautiful, at least if you have heard the original version.

Roxette

Anyone who hasn't been living in a paper box from IKEA for the last 20 years should know Roxette. Look Sharp! and Joyride are two great albums worth checking out. Crash! Boom! Bang! isn't bad either, but after that I'm not sure...

The Flower Kings

Progressive rock à la 70s, lead by prog-rock veteran Roine Stolt (Kaipa, Transatlantic, The Tangent, Ritual). Daniel Gildenlöw from Pain of Salvation is one of the band members these days.

The Knife

Indie/pop. Check out Deep Cuts, an excellent album.