Kev Rowland I was a big fan of this Swedish band’s previous album, 2012’s ‘Lights Out’, so was pleased to come across the next release, 2015’s ‘Innocence & Decadence’, which was the last they released before breaking up (they have since reformed and released ‘Peace’ in 2018). The line-up at the time was Truls Mörck (bass, vibraphone), Axel Sjöberg (drums), Jonathan LaRocca Ramm (guitar), Johan Lindström (organ, piano, backing vocals) and Joakim Nilsson (vocals, guitar). Their aim was always to play more straightforward hard rock with blues influences, and there is no doubt they looked to late Sixties/early Seventies UK/Ireland for much of their inspiration with early Foghat, John Mayall and Taste being obvious influences.

This is the style of music I grew up with, being a teenager when Bonzo was still alive and remember discussing the merits of the likes of Humble Pie, Budgie, Free, Bad Company and so many other blues-based bands. They were everywhere, and this was long before metal became the many-splintered many-headed beast it is today, and while we all loved the likes of Sabbath, Purple and many others, if it wasn’t prog then it was music based on rich guitars, great solos and the blues, and that is just what we have here. The use of an Organ as opposed to a synth also adds a richness and depth to the music, allowing us just to smile and get into the groove. This is music which may have some commonality with Blue Cheer, but generally this is so reminiscent of the style of music which was all around us back in the day – the Seventies may never have been cool, but boy did we have some great music growing up, and this takes up back to those days.

Kev Rowland 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. www.nuclearblast.de

UMUR "Hisingen Blues" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish hard/heavy rock act Graveyard. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in March 2011.

The music on "Hisingen Blues" is hard/heavy rock with deep roots in late sixties/early seventies hard rock. I´d especially mention Led Zeppelin as an inspiration. The riffs are hard rocking and blues based, the rythm section is organic and lead vocalist/guitarist Joakim Nilsson has a raw vocal delivery somewhere between Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). The album features an organic sound production and what sounds like an analogue recording to me and that´s greatly enjoyable and suits the music well. While there are certainly raw and hard rocking moments on the album like the energetic opener "Ain’t Fit To Live Here" and "RSS", the band also take the tempo down and display how dynamic they can be too. A track like "Uncomfortably Numb" is a good example of this.

"Hisingen Blues" is a great release and a recommended purchase for fans of hard rocking heavy rock. The music is undeniably retro in every way possible, so don´t expect to hear anything here that you haven´t heard before. However what you can expect is to be blown away be the sincerity of the affair and the powerful delivery of the music and that certainly counts as plusses in my book too. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Evil ways...

Genre: retro hard rock

Originally released in 2007, and rereleased on Nuclear Blast in 2011, this is the debut album by Swedish hard rockers Graveyard.

The style on this album is essentially the same - namely, heavy blues-based hard rock solidly rooted in Graveyard's obvious inspiration from 70s hard rock bands, and, thus, "Graveyard" takes the listener back to the very roots of heavy metal music. The vocals sound 70s-ish. The guitars sound 70-ish. The drums sound very 70s-ish. The only thing that is missing to complete the picture would be the sound of vinyl static (but I guess that if you buys a vinyl version, you can even have that).

Combining the southern rock-inspired groove of Led Zeppelin with the dark heaviness of Black Sabbath, Graveyard's music on this album is both groovily bluesy and heavily doomy and more than relevant to the metal fan.

Recommended to fans of heavy rock, southern rock and acts like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, and Trouble.

Time Signature Grateful are the hardrockers...

Genre: veeery old school metal

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 known 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.