Graveyard – Peace

Graveyard – Peace

Nuclear Blast – 2018

Rock, Hard, Seventies, Blues

Rated: ****

Do you remember where you were? When the earth shook around you? When the walls came crashing down? When life as we know it, seemed to have lost all meaning? Yes, do you know where you were when Graveyard said they were calling it quits? September seems to be one of those months that evokes bad energy and worse weather. Well, it was also the month Graveyard said they would stop their majestic and soulful ride. Luckily, they announced their come back only a few months later! Pfew! Now, all was right in the world again. Well, almost right. We had to hear what new drummer Oskar Bergenheim, who we already knew from the Truls Mörck album and Den Stora Vilan, but also played for Slowgold and Togus Band, would bring to the Graveyard sound. Well, rest assured, they are back! And with knives in their teeth! We can state that all the Graveyard records are wild and wonderful, but that some of the sharp edge and danger slowly dissipated the during the course of their albums. It’s back now. On Peace, they sound much more chased, hunted and on the run. They sound like they have something to prove again. Gritty, bluesy, grungy hard rock and with that ever-prevalent love for the seventies that Graveyard always displayed. Does Oskar Bergenheim change the sound? No, he sounds like the perfect replacement for Axel Sjöberg, he continues the wildness we love and injects it with a new razor-sharp edge! Graveyard is back!

(Written by JK)

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Graveyard – Innocence & Decadence

Graveyard – Innocence & Decadence

Nuclear Blast – 2015

Rock, Hard, Seventies, Stoner

Rated: ****

Everybody out there will surely still be in love with their 2011 album Hisingen Blues. And ever since that album the boys from Sweden can do no wrong. Although some of us, the undying Graveyard lovers, did think Lights Out did lose some of its raw and gritty edge in comparison to Hisingen Blues. But now they return with Innocence & Decadence, and even though one could concede it’s a new version of what they did before. It is a damn good version. Thick seventies grooves, heavy hooks and that growling voice of Joakim Nilsson that can just as easily turn into that bone-chilling screech. And they can just as easily pull back on the throttle and hit just as hard with a ballad like Too Much Is Not Enough. So yes, Graveyard is in great form, better than on Lights Out and almost as good as on Hisingen Blues. But from now on, let’s stop comparing their releases to the genre-transcending album of a decade and take everything on its own classic merit. Cause Innocence & Decadence is damn freakin good and something we can listen to until the end of time…

(Written by JK)

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Truls Mörck – Truls Mörck

Truls Mörck – Truls Mörck

Fetish – 2015

Rock, Psych, Sixties, Seventies, Folk

Rate: ****

As lead guitarist on the first Graveyard album he played an important part for the sound of the band but was soon afterwards replaced by Jonatan Ramm. He returned back to the band this year as the new bassist since Rikard Edlund has not yet returned to the fold. In between those moments he played with Den Stora Vilan and released a self-titled solo record this year. We are talking about Truls Mörck. On it we hear a very subdued version of psychedelic rock, folk and blues that serves as a time warp towards the sixties and seventies on many occasion and only warms the blue cold atmosphere that this Scandinavian album unfolds with a small flickering candlelight. It might be a cold album, but because it feels so intimate and precious it also become cozy and secretive. As if you are stuck inside his pocket as he sits on a stool and composes his stories. Don’t think you will be getting the hints of proto metal here. There is none and no driving speed like Graveyard produces. No, this moves towards  psychedelic folk and campfire storytelling. And it is done so well…

(Written by JK)

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