ZETA – 1974 (Mimo Sound, 2019; rec. 1974) / Svart Dag (Mimo Sound, 2024; rec. 1977) / Speleman/Walking Down The Starway (Sonet, 7", 1978)

After drummer Björn Malmros's stint in Alexander Lucas, he formed his own band Zeta in 1974. Originally a four-piece, they went through a couple of line-up changes before debuting for Sonet with single ”Speleman” in 1978, followed by a second 45 ”Vicken tjej” in 1979. By that time, the sound had changed fundamentally to a mainstream kind of AOR of no interest to this blog. However, very different sounding recordings by previous incarnations of the band exist and have trickled out on streaming platforms over the years. 

1974 (Mimo Sound, 2019; rec. 1974)
Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

From their formation year of 1974 comes this 26 minute studio session. Three tracks are untitled instrumentals, and as they don't really hold up as such, my guess is they are unfinished backing tracks supposed to have vocals overdubbed at a later stage. That leaves five tracks that reveal a band surprisingly mature in their fledgling year. The vocals are a bit weak (especially on the only English speaking track ”Burning”), but the music is good-to-great early hard rock that surely would be in high demand among collectors had it only been released back in '74. Some tracks are straight up excellent, such as ”Jag går genom staden” and most notably ”En alvkung” – a classic had it been given the chance to become one. The tapes are a bit hissy, but if someone took the time to clean them up, most of these tracks are well worthy of a proper release.

 

Svart dag (Mimo Sound, 2024; rec. 1977)
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: ***

Three years later, and Zeta had become a power trio with only Björn Malmros left from the original incarnation. Despite being recorded in 1977, this nine-track tape – only 21 minutes long – is quite unaffected by the burgeouning heavy metal sound of the era and is much closer to old school hard rock, with the possible exception for the closing instrumental ”Fantasia”. ”En alvkung” makes a reappearance here in a version standing up for itself not needing any comparisons to the original take. Again, some careful noise removal and sensible remastering is all it takes, and then this is ready for vinyl. Make it side 2 of an album with an accurately trimmed down version of the 1974 session on side 1 and you'll have a pretty brilliant slice of long-lost underground hard rock from the classic era.

 

Speleman / Walking Down The Starway (Sonet, 7". 1978
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

The first proper release from Zeta was this 7”, but the last to warrant inclusion here. The decline into a very uninteresting mainstream sound had already begun, even though it's not as bad as it soon would be. ”Speleman” is decidedly the better track of the two, with some light progressive touches, but compared to ”1974” and ”Svart dag”, this is ignorable. Issued in red vinyl in Sonet's "Swedish Tracks" series.

Like I mentioned earlier, a revamped Zeta released one further 45 (in 1979), and there are more previously unreleased tapes available for streaming. But none of these are attention worthy, with very little left of what made them so good in the beginning.

1974 full album playlist 
Svart Dag full album playlist 
Speleman full single playlist