You name a style of music and Sweden's invariably kicking ass in it. And not only are there so many cool innovators, but they also boast of being very big on reviving all the things that made old school rock so priceless. There are even labels like Transubstans dedicated in putting out bands that are influenced by the most obscure of the late 60s and early 70s rock bands.

Graveyard's debut album has been a revelation of sorts. For one, I thought Witchcraft have been doing an exceptional job at this whole early 70s thing and channelling Pentagram with great success (for our standards). Their scene brothers here have just started out and from the looks of it, they're even better. While it took Witchcraft a couple of albums to come out of the Bobby Leibling worship and put their own twist to the sound and with a more updated production, Graveyard have acheived something extraordinary at their first go. Although Pentagram is still an influence, they have a lot more than that going on. If names like Leaf Hound and Buffalo are something you're familiar with, you'll probably hear the parallels that can be drawn to Graveyard's sound immediately.

You have to get this. This comes from before songs were driven by rhythmic-riffs as pioneered by Iommi and Co. This is all about the melodies that the vocalists and the progressions that the guitarists come up with. With some brooding minor scales based progressions and with the twangy old school pentatonic/blues based lead lines, this guitar playing duo's ideas are always attention grabbing. With a drummer that completely goes bonkers as and when needed and keeps low otherwise in the true style of that era and the bassist sneaking in a few cool licks, these guys have churned out something that completely satisfies this sucker for this era of rock, every time I spin this motherfucker. But most of all, you have some very soulful and dark vocals that shine throughout the album and drive the songs, as showcased fittingly on a song like Blue Soul or As the Years Pass By.

That doesn't mean the rest of this is any inferior. This is in fact the most evolved and studied traditionalist rock can get, not just because they've dug deeper than most others for inpiration, but mainly because they've managed to capture the essense of it all by coming up with 39 minutes of completely captivating piece of rock. Very awesome production and it should be a treat on an LP. Great debut that comes highly recommended.



Label: Transubstans Records
Year of Release: 2008