Hisingen’s finest, Gothenburg’s flesh and blood, Graveyard, have just released their latest album ‘Fever’, and this is serious ‘business’ we’re talking about, for one of Sweden’s charismatic and iconic bands with no compromises. Their 7th studio album is the perfect mix of Black Sabbath and Grand Funk Railroad, an album statement that they are back on track stronger than ever, letting no fever derail their pathway.
‘Back from the Grave’ set things straight from the beginning, with the heavy and groovy elements taking over, their trademark entrance. Of course their sound, songwriting and overall ‘modus operandi’ has gone through changes, and this is not the same band we all met back in the mid 2000s, with the unique s/t record. There has been line up changes and they have been through a process to redefine the way they write music.
However, the heart and soul of the band, their passion and individual desire to play vintage, old school rock their own way, has remained at the same spot all those years.
The heavy, fuzzy and distorted riffs come together with the rumbling and rock solid rhythm section, adding to the groove and pace of each one of the songs. The band is on a frenzy creative form, where ‘Fever’ was just a symptom surpassed for good and left behind. This is not nuclear science, but pure delight to the human ear: feeling the constant galloping of the whole song and getting carried away in ‘Tongue Tied’. ‘A Better Cut (Note to Self)’ slows down the pace in a typical Joakim Nilsson performance, the one we have always loved behind the vocals. I just love in this band, the interactive way for the drums and the bass interacting, with pounding drumbeats and the gloomy dominance of the bass lines in a classic, old school manner, but at the same time fresh and modern (e.g.: ‘Time to Tell’).
Make no mistakes: ‘Fever’ is another dark album from Graveyard, which serves as their vehicle to escape to another phase, move on and leave behind this bad chapter, whatever that meant for the band itself, on a personal or not level. ‘Room tempered’ shares the band’s high energy rock n roll and raw feeling which goes across the album and leaves no empty spaces, it just fulfills your soul and proves how charismatic this band has always been.
‘Fever’ closes with ‘Dead note’, a bluesy jewel, that makes you admit how addictive you have become to Graveyard’s tunes, how much we love this band and its doomy-gloomy-melancholic grace, leaving you always thinking what a great band they truly are! It is the perfect ending to an album, which does not reach the greatness of ‘Hisingen Blues’ but is a great album to listen to, due to its unique vintage quality, bluesy approach and unique identity within the Graveyard catalogue.
8/10
Text by Antonis Mantzavinos
Tracklist:
- Back From The Grave
- Tongue Tied
- A Better Cut (Note To Self)
- Year Of The Horse
- A Means To An End
- Time To Tell
- Don’t Shoot!
- Room Tempered
- Dead Note
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