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"Most European rock music sucks. We're just trying to fight back and prove that some Scandinavians can be good at what they do.� Ville Valo, HIM.
Think of Scandinavia and what do you see? Snow, saunas and Reindeer probably. Think of Scandinavian music and most people can only hear Abba and a few notes of Barbie Girl. The truth is most people here neglect Scandinavia as a source of great music and since our own is pretty awful most of the time maybe we should turn our ears across the sea to our nearby neighbours. Here are just a few of the great bands around to come from up north and to the right a bit�
The Cardigans (Sweden)
You may think they were just a one hit wonder with their great pop tune Lovefool but you�d be wrong. The Cardigans have a stack of albums behind them, their latest one being Long Gone Before Daylight, which isn�t as poppy as some of their earlier tracks like Erase/Rewind and My Favourite Game, but still stay true to their style.
The Ravonettes (Denmark)
Tipped as the next big thing in 2003 the Ravonettes are a two piece who take heavy inspiration from the past and mix it into something beautiful. After their EP Whip It On they made a full length album called Chain Gang of Love which had some great titled songs such as The Truth About Johnny and New York was Great
Lene Marlin (Norway)
After hitting the music scene with her song Sitting Down Here you could have easily mistaken Lene Marlin for being another teenage popstar. But her first album Playing My Game proved that she was a great singer/songwriter capable of writing moving ballads and upbeat radio friendly material too. She recently disappeared for a while but at the end of 2003 released a second album, Another Day.
HIM (Finland)
Massively popular back home and in Europe, HIM are now becoming well known over here, and rightly so. They invented an entire genre of music, dubbed love metal, since it�s about nothing except love. When the song �Join Me in Death� was found in a boy�s walkman after he killed himself HIM got a tough ride but now seem to be back in favour with a new album out. You used to have to go to the big cities� music stores to buy HIM but they�re no longer obscure, just switch on MTV2 or the Kerrang channel to see them.
Junior Senior (Denmark)
Their single Move Your Feet had us all dancing like maniacs round the living room after a few too many shots but Junior Senior had move in store. The Danish electro poppers made an entire album called D-D-Don�t Stop the Beat to party to. Next summer we hope they give us some more music to get our feet moving too.
Nightwish (Finland)
Mixing rocky metal with powerful operatic vocals doesn�t sound good on paper but once you hear any track of Nightwish�s you�ll be cursing yourself for not thinking it first. With lots of past albums to chose from, such as Oceanborn and Over the Hills and Far Away you can enjoy loads of Nightwish�s music without having to wait for more to be released just yet.