Hisingen Blues in Bloomington, MN

The second album by Swedish retro blues-rock band
Graveyard
finds them moving from the stoner rock-identified
Tee Pee
label to the more traditionally metallic
Nuclear Blast
. They haven't changed their sound one bit, though; they still sound like a lost band from 1971, somewhere between the U.K.-based
Groundhogs
and their fellow Swedes in
November
. The easiest modern comparison would be to
Witchcraft
, but
's more occult lyrical focus, and influence from heavier acts like
Pentagram
, sets them apart from
's bare-bones boogie, which falls closer to
Horisont
. The title track of this album finds
at their most rip-roaring, offering a thunderous riff and some stinging guitar soloing. Other tracks throw little stylistic tweaks (background vocals on
"Buying Truth [Tack & Foerlat]"
) into the mix, but the basic formula stays the same.
"Longing"
is the token ballad, an instrumental with some whistling and subtle organ giving it an
Ennio Morricone-ish
desolation. The album ends with the one-two punch of the hard-rocking
"RSS"
and the atmospheric, shifting (it starts soft and gets very loud), six-minute
"The Siren,"
an excellent showcase for the band's skilled rhythm section.
should be heard by any fan of retro hard rock. ~ Phil Freeman