Swedish House Mafia - Until One (Soundtrack)

EDIT: If you really want to hear what SHM sound like live, listen to their Essential Mix at Creamfields. That set is amazing.


I will say that right from the jump I was surprised with this album because I was under the impression that it would contain A: new material from SHM, and B: strictly music by SHM. I also assumed it would be an unmixed soundtrack to the documentary of the same name. Perhaps I was misconstruing statements by the boys, or my reading comprehension is not up to par. Either way, I was a little disappointed when I took a look at the tracklist.

I must confess: throughout the album, I found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of the tracks. About 75% of the records is music I had already heard, so at certain points I was just listening to hear how the compilation was mixed and to support the group. This wasn't because the records were bad. It was just because, as I mentioned, I had heard a large amount of the tracks already. The production quality of the album is top-notch, with Axwell's works, in my opinion, clearly standing out from the rest. All the tracks are "phat", wide, and warm-sounding. The mastering is great. The individual tracks are all composed and produced professionally and do not disappoint in that regard. Collectively, unfortunately, I found the mixing to be bland. This is a combination of the characteristics of the house music genre and the dj's choice of programming.

Though I only gave it a quick listen, I noted that much of the album plays like a roller coaster. It's my preference that a dj set should slowly build up and increase the energy throughout the set. Maybe this was not SHM's intention while putting together this soundtrack. They, instead, let each individual track build and breakdown, play out, then mix in the next track. This sounds like a decent enough blueprint on paper, but when executed live it just seems like an energy killer. I thought at times while listening, "Would this work in a club?" At that point I realized that, as is the case with many other big names in music, SHM have reached a level where they can do whatever they want and people will eat it up. I have never seen either of these gentlemen live, so who knows? Maybe crowds do like this mixing style. I would argue that to enjoy this album, you have to appreciate the progressive genre and the mixing style of the Mafia. Otherwise, you may get bored when fillers are played.

I would also like to briefly mention that SHM likes to play mash-ups in their sets. I'm not a mash-up man myself, but if they're done live, I can respect that.

All in all, I would give this album 82/83 out of 100. Deciding factors were tracklisting, programming, and production/mix quality.

Looking forward to the documentary