Despite (or maybe because of) being a small nation Sweden has always been very keen on picking up international trends and styles and make it their own. One of our biggest international exports is our music, groups like Roxette, Abba, Ace of Base etc have had quite some success, not that i like any of the groups mentioned or that Swedish Reggae have had a huge international impact but still....
When it comes to Swedish Reggae there is like 2 different camps, the one who tries to put a Swedish perspective on the music, inspired by it's Jamaican roots but not interested in trying to sound like it and then the ones who tries to emulate it as much as possible whit patois accents and all. Im not going to take sides, i like both styles and i guess this is leaning more towards the "Swedish perspective camp" whit her highly original and kinda nasal way of singjaying.
Whit that being said, the backing is quite traditional, 70ies sounding but let's move on to the first song, "Nar vi kommer" (translation: "When we come") a happy, summer sounding song whit major crossover potential (although it's not a sellout song in any way). It's about how Syster Sol has other goals than what "Babylon" has and does not wanna achieve the same things or go the same ways. I guess the definition of "Babylon" here is more an secular, political one, this is not an religious, RastafarI reggae album.
Next up is "Reflektioner" is an very, very deep song about your inner life, your soul, emotions and how you can end up cause your own unhappiness due to look at yourself in the wrong way. It's the total oposite of the previous song whit it's slightly melancholic and slow sound, it's not bad but not my favourite on the album either as it's not all that catchy.
A couple songs later on comes "Vad hande sen" (translation "What happened then") a song which at first sounds like a song about failed love but is about false prophets and their hollow promises of a better tomorrow. It's an digital, uptempo song whit a rootsy vibe to it. Perfect for the dance-floor without being too trivial and adjusted to the club. The title track "Doomed to be judged" a deep song about the society we live in and how it tries to suppress us and our true selves, it's another uptempo roots song whit a good message about self realization.
Over all i would say this is a good album, it has dept, good production values and it feels very ready to take on the music industry and an wide audience without ever selling out. There are no major problems whit it but if i have to mention anything it would perhaps be that the lyrical content on here is very similar throughout the album. Whit a few exceptions it's basically 10 songs about inner struggle and (slightly abstract) criticism of our society and it's values and nothing more. But that's only if I'm nitpicking and tries my best to find faults whit it, "Domd att bli bedomd" is a good album from an original artist i look forward to hear more from.
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