Have patience. Stay the course. Stop multitasking. Listen.
That’s when “6” opens its petals to the rain, ever so deliberately and with great care, blossoming into another entry in the ongoing pantheon of great Graveyard music. The maturity of the band and the return of producer Don Ahlsterberg blend together to give audiences the band at their most cinematic.
Skip the first two cuts. Go ahead, you’re not missing anything there. Then sit back for “I Follow You,” and languish in the stew of plodding blues sensibilities. Picture the rain-drenched city streets on an overcast, black night, music pouring out of a dozen ill-reputed houses of libation, the crowds milling about, everyone at their own pace, possessed of a hundred different reasons and intents. The song never feels balanced, which is an odd trait for a blues song, but works to the advantage here.
It does deserve to be said, as the album careens headlong into the soft insistence of “Breathe In, Breathe Out”: if someone were to call this album “Peace, Part II,” it’s hard to argue that’s not true to a degree. There are a lot of cuts here that sound very similar to “Del Manic” or “Bird of Paradise.” “Breathe In, Breathe Out” is the most prevalent of these examples, but if the album’s worst sin is that emulates previous success rather than evolves from it, that’s hardly a complaint.
The singing of Truls Mörck has been a source of some division among Graveyard fans since the experiment began (you know who you are,) but his minor-key, bitten crooning works especially well for the tenor of “Sad Song,” especially when accompanied by the piano deep in the background.
Graveyard has always been at their best in their slow burns, dating back to “No Good, Mr. Holden.” The trend has been the band’s lifeblood for every album since, be it the melancholic “Slow Motion Countdown” or the dramatic “Too Much Is Not Enough,” or the aforementioned “Del Manic.” For “6,” the rich tradition continues with “No Way Out,” a song that begins low and easy, building layer upon layer until the listener is enveloped in warm analog tones, surrounded by a blanket of the best blues rock on the market today.
It also bears mentioning that if those are the Graveyard songs that you’ve always enjoyed best, “6” will be even more rewarding for you, as the album is content to proceed at a wallowing pace, certainly more than we’ve heard from them in their career, and definitely more than we heard most recently with the shattering bombast of “Peace.” “6,” good, bad or indifferent, simply doesn’t possess the same virile bite of the albums that precede it.
As discussed at the top though, this is Graveyard at their most cinematic. These songs craft images; are meant to be played in the corners of smoky lounges with shifty characters enjoying mellow whiskey and expensive cigars in the forbidden hours of the morning. This is Graveyard’s deepest, most atmospheric album to date, and it should not be missed. Be patient. Listen.
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Chris C: They say you can never go home again. It's an adage of warning, but there is truth to what is being said. Everything from the past is a moment in time, and it cannot be recaptured, no matter how much you try to set the stage in the same way. We are simply not the same people we were in the past, so it all becomes an act. Some of us are better performers than others, but it doesn't change the underlying principal.
Five years after "Peace" changed the Graveyard sound, the band has reunited with the producer of their first three records. The sonic texture is unmistakable as early Graveyard, but is that enough to convince us we've gone back in time? Those records are among my favorite rock records of the last fifteen years, so I certainly would like to answer to be yes, but I'm also smart enough to know when an illusion is skill and when it is a gimmick.
As mentioned, this record sounds like classic Graveyard. The noisier guitars and crushing loudness of "Peace" is replaced by the more natural fuzz of their earliest works, which is a most welcome development. Graveyard is a band of dynamics, and the ensuing years have led me to believe the tones on "Peace" did not allow for as much light and shade as Graveyard requires. They are not a 'heavy' band, and trying to be one limited the scope of what they are capable of. That has been corrected here, as the sound is back to being as timeless as can be.
Now comes the big question; Five years after "Peace", and an additional four years on from "Innocence & Decadence", does Graveyard still carve songs out of rock with the precision of a diamond blade? The worrying trend is how the first three records came so quickly, but now the band is taking longer and longer between records. From my own experiences, I know there comes a point where ideas are harder to find, and the music isn't the same when you have to work harder to pull it out of yourself.
If that is the case, Graveyard has masked it well. The time spent making this record has been productive, as the band mines the more contemplative side of psych-rock, producing songs that prefer to play to the low lights of a late-night crowd, as opposed to screaming over the raucous cheers of a not yet inebriated audience. Joakim doesn't use the bellowing power of his voice as often, and at times barely sounds like himself, but it's what the songs require. Other than moments like the crecendo of "I Follow You", the band is playing with restraint, and not pushing the speakers to their limits.
On first blush, some listeners might be underwhelmed. Rock is not known for its nuance, and this record does not hit you over the head with its power. These songs take time to unfold and reveal themselves, for the melodies to unravel from the production and get pulled out by your memory. These are the kinds of records that have staying power, because you couldn't hear everything right away. Graveyard requires us to dig a bit to find the gems, but they are waiting for us if we put in the effort.
The pure soul backing vocals in "Breathe In Breathe Out" call back to "Innocence & Decadence", and it's that record which serves as the prism by which this one makes the most sense. The production might go back further, but the band's light touch, and focus on mood and feeling, is pulled from that one. "Hisingen Blues" and "Lights Out" have always felt like a pair to me, and not just because of how quickly they were released one after the other. Similarly, "6" does feel like a spiritual successor to "Innocence & Decadence", which also means this feels like the Graveyard album we should have gotten five years ago.
I don't mean to say that "Peace" was a mistake, but it is the one time Graveyard didn't feel authentic. As much as I love the band, I have gone back to revisit that record less than any of the others, and by an order of magnitude.
"6" is a statement that Graveyard is back to being Graveyard, and there isn't much more we can ask for than that. Graveyard is special, as they are one of the select few band mining the past who are able to bring classic rock into the modern day without it sounding like an act. If the blues is truly timeless, Graveyard is the link between the past and the future. And like all chains, we are only as strong as our weakest link. For Graveyard, that was "Peace", and "6" goes a long way to welding shut whatever hole may have been opening.
No, Graveyard is not going to rock our faces off, but that's not what I want them to do. They play with a fuller palate, and like an old noir movie, mood can be just as important as the plot. Graveyard have recaptured their signature sound, and it makes for a most welcome return.
The long wait required patience, but it has been rewarded.
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