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Released on September 25, 2015 via Nuclear Blast Records
Graveyard have been around for a while now and we all know their number one objective is to write and play straight up rock and roll. Of course they sound familiar and nostalgic and their blues roots along with their Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy influences really stand out. At the same time, we still know we are in 2015 and who we are really listening to.
Innocence & Decadence starts off quite fast paced with ‘Magnetic Shunk’ and ‘The Apple & The Tree’ (their new and catch single which has a really cool video by the way). So far we can clearly notice that all the core elements of previous Graveyard records are here. The next song called ‘Exit 97’ reminds me of ‘Slow Motion Countdown’ off the album Lights Out. It’s a very moody song that slows things down.
The next few songs have a nice balance of either fast paced, straight up rock (‘Never Theirs to Sell’, ‘Hard-Headed’) or slow paced, bluesy and moody (‘Can’t Walk Out’, ‘Too Much Is Not Enough’, ‘Far to Close’) songs Graveyard has managed to perfect over the years. No matter what happens though, the band shows great musicianship and you constantly find yourself nodding and tapping your foot to the beat and just wanting crack open another beer.
The two highlights of the album are ‘From A Hole In The Wall’ and ‘Cause & Defect’. The first kind of reminds of a movie soundtrack where some bandits are being chased by the police with loads of shooting and crashes involved. There are even blastbeats! The pursuit ends in a bloody manner. My imagination is weird. The second, on the other hand, includes the highlight riff.
The album’s closer, ‘Stay for a Song’, is basically main singer Joakim’s voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar while fading out completely. It is a very nice way to end a very well balanced album. A quick note about Joakim Nilsson. He is in fact a great rock and roll singer. You have got to love his booze fuelled voice.
In conclusion, we can all agree that it’s really hard to top Hisingen Blues (their second album), but they managed to release their most diverse effort to date. There’s a good balance of fast and slow paced songs. The songs don’t drag unnecessarily.
Some listeners might be a bit underwhelmed with the lack of innovation, but this is who Graveyard are and this is what they will offer us. They are a celebration of another era while adding some swift touches of modernness here and there. It’s laid back and a great album to sit back and enjoy a beer to.
