Graveyard – Innocence & Decadence
Release Date: September 25, 2015
Label: Nuclear Blast
It’s hard to believe that Graveyard is about to release their fourth album. In some ways, I can’t believe it’s already four albums but at the same time this band writes and plays like a band that has been around 2 or 3 times longer than they actually have. With each passing album Graveyard just seems to grow, mature, and nurture their sound but with Innocence and Decadence, Graveyard managed to do things slightly different. Instead of just choosing to segue safely from 2012’s Light’s Out, Graveyard chose to dig even deeper, tugging on the influential roots of bands that we haven’t heard from them before.
The album kicks off with “Magnetic Shunk” which is pretty much that classic, signature Graveyard shuffle that reminds me just a bit of “Aint Fit to Live Here” off of their Hisingen Blues album. “Exit 97” can best be described as the bastard brother of “Uncomfortably Numb” also from Hisingen Blues. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that these songs sound similar to other Graveyard songs as this just proves that Graveyard does tend to have a formula of sorts.
“The Apple and the Tree” (the leadoff single from the album) is where things really got interesting for me. With its “Sultans of Swing” meets Blue Oyster Cult kind of groove, this song totally caught me off guard but in a good way. Another real treat was “Too Much Is Not Enough.” This song sounds like it could be a Stax Records classic complete with backup singers and some of the most soulful, expressive vocal work I’ve heard to date from guitarist/vocalist Joakim Nilsson. This is not a direction I thought I would hear Graveyard take but I love that they took me there. The highlight of the album for me was the closing track “Stay For a Song” which features just Nilsson, his guitar, and some very subtle organ in the background. This song was such an unexpected piece of raw beauty and vulnerability and it just may be one of their greatest moments.
Graveyard really knocked it out of the park with Innocence and Decadence. It’s risky, it’s bold, and it’s the album that Graveyard wanted and needed to make. This release lets us see that Graveyard’s musical influences run way deeper than we ever thought that they did. I love it when a band can catch me off guard proving that they are a band that can’t be pinned down. Graveyard is a band that refuses to be boxed in or confined to the expectations that others may have for them. This is why Graveyard is the fucking best. Nobody does it better than them… nobody.
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