Hisingen Blues 2011

"Although stylistically different bands like Noctum and Graveyard can be considered representatives of a movement in Sweden and elsewhere which retrospectively seeks back to the very earliest incarnations of heavy metal music and its roots in 70s hard rock.

While Noctum seek inspiration mainly in Black Sabbath and similarly doom-ladden early metal bands, Graveyard seem more inspired by Led Zeppelin (and Joakim Nilsson's raw voice sounds like something in between Robert Plant and "Manic Frustration"-era Eric Wagner [who's know to do some Plant copy-catting anyway]), and Graveyard appears generally less doom-ladden than Noctum. Nonetheless, tracks like the heavy "No Good, Mr Holden" and "Ungrateful Ar the Dead", the dark ballads "Uncomfortably Numb" and "Longing" (the latter, which is an instrumental, even has a sort of Morricone-ish spaghetti-western atmosphere to it and is a candidate for my favorite track of the album) and the more uptempo "Buying Truth (Tack & Forlåt)" do have a certain melancholy and darkness to them.

Musically, Graveyard's dirty bluesrock-driven style emphasizes groovy and twangy guitar-riffage backed up by a fat, deep, and broad Geezer Butler-esque bass and hippie-style fill-in rich drumming. In other words, "Hisingen Blues" has all the things that dark 70s hard rock should have, although this is 2011.

The production is raw and retro (and analogue) and has an authentic 70s sound, but lacks the obligatory crackling noise of vinyl releases of the 70s. This not really a problem to me anyways, since I am not that much of a vinyl enthusiast, and I think that younger listeners who are used to the polished production associated with many modern metal styles will also appreciate the clearness of the mixing itself.

Although Graveyard are a retro band, they do strike me as being somewhat more original than many of the other bands who are on the same mission to revive metal in its earliest form as they are, and I am sure that the dirty, raw blues-driven hardrock on "Hisingen Blues" will appeal to fans of proto-metal and early hard rock.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"