I have played this album many times now, and each time I come up with the same thought “where did the last forty years go?” If you have yet to come across Graveyard then you may imagine that this yet another Swedish Black Metal outfit, but while you would be right about the country you would be bang wrong about everything else. This is a hard rock/metal album that sounds as if it came out at the beginning of the genre, not now. Imagine Blue Cheer mixed with the Doors, throw in some Sabbath influences and a touch of Deep Purple and you may just be getting close to what this is about. Sure, there are hints of doom at times, but this is much more raw and in your face than the old navel gazing approach.
When they released the album ‘Hisingen Blues’ they shot to the top of many critic’s ratings, and this is going to be received in the same manner. If you enjoy this type of music, then it just doesn’t get much better than this. It is as if all of the genres that this movement spawned haven’t taken place, with the only nod to the present day being the production which is clean and concise and ensures that everything is heard and appreciated as opposed to being a muddy mess. They mix up the tempos, but never to extremes, and the result is an album that anyone who appreciates what was going on in the Seventies will savour with relish.
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