by Caleb Deupree
Familjesprickor (Family Cracks) was the last album recorded by the Swedish progressive group originally called Samla Mammas Manna until the group re-formed and released Kaka in 1999, and came after a long period of overseas touring and affiliation with Chris Cutler's Rock in Opposition project, which also included more dissonant groups like Henry Cow and Etron Fou Leloublan. The original drummer, Hans Bruniusson, had left the group in early 1980 and was replaced by a new drummer, Vilgot Hansson, from Stockholm, for tours in France and Belgium. In the liner notes, the group states that Familjesprickor was made during a period of transition, and the music is therefore not as "optimistic and happy" as that on previous Zamla/Samla releases. Indeed, this album is the darkest and most aggressive of any album by any incarnation of the group. The opening track, "Five Single Combats," drives hard and fast right out of the box, and the intensity barely lets up through the rest of the album. There is a bit of a rest on "Ventilation Calculation," where keyboardist Lars Hollmer has brief and wistful solo interludes, but "The Forge" (reprised as Forge Etude by Von Zamla on No Make Up! kicks back up again. The album's only vocals are on "Pappa," a demented folk tune with none of the sweetness of the band's earlier work, but overall this is the most avant rock album the Zamlas/Samlas ever produced.