Review: Spökstan - Hål i betongen

Spökstan - Hål i betongen 
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It's been a while since Spökstan released their latest EP "Hej Kompis". It was actually five years ago. So it was about time that a new release saw the light of day. "Hål i betongen" is their first album and they prove that their material works fine not just on an EP but as an album as well. Spökstan which means Ghost Town are one of the most interesting skaband from Sweden for a very long time. 

Their sound is a result of a mishmash from different styles and different eras. And it's impressive that they keep it all together. It's a mix of british twotone, swedish 80's skamusic and modern reggae. I could refer to a variety of bands for days but I think that all in all they're pretty much close to the american ska band The Toasters. They both challenge the classic ska style and dare to experiment. 

This record contains several potential hit songs but I prefer the more up-tempo songs like "Kniven mot strupen", "Skeva vida värld" and "Parasit". The lyrics are in Swedish but I think that Spökstan works fine even if you just want to dance to nice backbeat music. And nice backbeat music is just what you will get, 12 songs where the last two are live recorded and a running time of 40 minutes.