Sweden's Graveyard are a band who seem
to know exactly who they are and what they want to achieve. On Lights
Out, album number three for those who are counting, there is
certainly no crisis of identity. Gut-busting hard rock in the vein of
Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Kyuss is the name of the game and it
is a game that the Gothenburg quartet excel at. Their previous album
Hisingen Blues was a highlight of the crop of rock albums in
2011 and primed Graveyard for worldwide exposure. So how do they
fare?
'An
Industry Of Murder' paints a vivid picture to the listener of
how this album is likely to differ from Hisingen Blues. It is
still masterfully played, wooly backwoods rock music but this time
around there is a sense of patience and grace to compliment the
powerhouse performances. When dealing in this type of music a degree
of subtlety can go a long way, lest it should devolve into
chest-beating pap. Graveyard have managed to achieve this without
blunting their sheer impact when they feel like turning it all the
way up – which fortunately is often.
Mature sounds like a dirty word when
you are trying to construct amp-busting, bong-rattling heavy metal,
but it is actually what makes Lights Out such a treat to
listen to. Without the cloying machismo, you are left with a nice
variety of tones and tempos to prevent repetition setting in without
ever completely taking over. If you feel as though the pace is
dipping there is always a ripper of a track just around the corner.
The danger with this sort of bask-to-basics approach is that it can
easily descend into a game of “spot the influence”. The guitars
on 'Fool In The End' might sting of prime Crazy Horse and 'Hard Times
Lovin' is surely haunted by the spirit of Jim Morrison. It is a
testament to Graveyard that even if you are stuck pointing all of
this out that you can still have a good time with the record.
Rating: A-
Recommended tracks: 20/20 (Tunnel Vision), An Industry Of Murder, Slow Motion Countdown
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