I’m including the full Abramis Brama bio here. Not because I wrote it — which is sometimes my excuse — or because I’m stoked they’re putting the first album out again for the 20th anniversary, though that is cool, but purely for informational purposes. This is a band I think people should know and should know about, and though I’ve written about them a few times over the years, including their 2018 album, Tusen År (review here), I’m not so much of an egotist as to think everyone who ever reads this site always reads this site. There are statistics to back me up on that, which, if I’m honest, I rarely if ever look at anymore. Numbers are what they are, and I’d rather spend time listening to music than thinking about them.

Further, in addition to wanting to have this information in case anyone sees this post and feels up for some perusal, I also want it here for myself, because at some point, I’m going to want clarity on what Abramis Brama were doing when, and true, this is in my email and will be until that server explodes somewhere, but all the better for backup, because again, this is valuable info to me. Facts and figures, dates and times, riffs and grooves.

So yes, Abramis Brama are reissuing Dansa Tokjävelns Vals. In fact they’re reissuing their whole discography between next month and next summer, one per month. And yes, that’s awesome. But please don’t think I’m including the whole bio here just to fill space, because it’s the internet, and filling the space would be impossible.

From the PR:

ABRAMIS BRAMA Re-Issues Their Debut Album DANSA TOKJÄVELNS VALS

Abramis Brama’s debut album’s 20th anniversary is celebrated with a release on vinyl for the very first time, kicking off a series of re-releases of the band’s entire catalogue – with one album every month up until summer 2020

Editions:
– Black LP + Tote Bag
– Black LP
– Transparent Blue LP

Release: 2019-11-29

Bio:

Abramis Brama, named after the latin name for the bream fish, hail from the south side of Stockholm, Sweden and has since its formation in 1997 released seven studio albums and one live album with heavy, ecstatic, riff-oriented hard rock – but with Swedish lyrics, an odd choice at the height of the international stoner rock movement around the turn of the millennium.

The quartet consisting of bassist/vocalist Dennis Berg, guitarist Peo Anderson, drummer Fredrik Jansson and original lead vocalist Christian Andersen first recorded a demo of twelve songs in April 1998, followed by debut album ”Dansa tokjävelns vals” in 1999.

New singer Ulf Torkelsson, formerly of Sunflower, joined the band after the release of the first album, and has fronted the band ever since. The follow-up ”När tystnaden lagt sig…” hit record stores in early 2001, and featured many of the band’s best known songs, and a translation of the Pretty Things number ”Cold Stone” into Swedish as ”Kall som sten”.

Covers of Captain Beyond and Swedish proto-metal pioneers November (who were the first hard rock band to sing in Swedish) were released on tribute albums and singles. After being pressured by their label at the time to record an album in English, the band re-wrote the lyrics for their old songs, rerecorded them with producer Per Wikström and released them as ”Nothing Changes” in 2003.

For ”Rubicon”, released in early 2005, the songs were yet again in Swedish. The band added second guitarist Robert Johansson (from tour partners Backdraft) but soon drummer Fredrik Jansson left the band, later joining Witchcraft (and is now in Angel Witch and Lugnet). His replacement Fredrik Liefvendahl (formerly of both Backdraft and Grand Magus) made his debut on record with the band for their ”Live!” album. ”Smakar söndag”, the band’s only studio album as a quintet, was released in 2009 and nominated for the prestigious P3 Guld award in Sweden by the national radio organization.

Guitarist Robert Johansson left the band in 2011. He was not replaced but instead the band carried on as a quartet, with Peo Andersson handling all guitars, like in their early days. However, at the end of a European tour in the fall of 2012 bassist and founding member Dennis Berg quit the band. An appearance at the legendary German tv show Rockpalast (where they performed solely in Swedish) and the Doom Over Vienna festival were some of his last concerts with Abramis Brama.

The band had then already started to write and plan the recordings for a new studio album, and new bass player Mats Rydström (also from Backdraft, nowadays in Avatarium) joined just in time for the first sessions for ”Enkel biljett”. In 2013 the band made their first live appearances with the new line-up, and was also filmed for a feature about Swedish music by the Brazilian tv show Música na Mochila – a show that’s broadcast all over Latin America.

The title track ”Enkel biljett” was released as a vinyl 7” split single with Norwegian friends Black Debbath in January of 2014, and was followed by the full album in May. It got a warm reception from fans and press alike, and Metal Hammer (UK) wrote: ”Abramis Brama have the bases covered, and while Sweden isn’t in danger of running out of vintagegear retro-rawk shapes, these beardy longhairs have their shit nailed.”

In the liner notes Swedish linguist and tv personality Fredrik Lindström called Abramis Brama Sweden’s most consistent band: ”In order to be consistent, you have to be confident. Abramis Brama sings about humanity, onus and existence with a burning commitment that would make Strindberg recant his words that his fire was the biggest in Sweden.”

Since then the band has toured Sweden, not just the major cities but all over this weird land, and played all the key festivals such as Metallsvenskan, Muskelrock, Getaway, Krökbacken and of course Sweden Rock Festival (for the fourth time). Upon their return to Germany in August of 2017, for the Aquamaria Festival, it became evident that good rock’n’roll is in itself a universal language.

In the spring of 2018, Abramis Brama signed with new label Black Lodge Records and released the ”Tusen år” album, which went to #2 on the Swedish hard rock charts and vinyl charts. Starting in November 2019, on the 20th anniversary of the release of the debut album ”Dansa tokjävelns vals”, the complete back catalogue will be re-released on vinyl, one record at a time, with expanded cover art and unreleased bonus tracks in some cases.

www.abramisbrama.com
www.facebook.com/abramisbrama
www.instagram.com/abramisbramaofficial
https://abramisbrama.bandcamp.com/
https://smarturl.it/BLOD128
https://www.facebook.com/blacklodgerecords/
https://blacklodgerecords.bandcamp.com/

Abramis Brama, “Tunga Tankar”

There’s just nothing here to argue against. I’m sorry. Usually in a review I find it appropriate to cite areas of potential growth as well as what’s really working and the narrative of a given album, but to take a band like Stockholm’s Abramis Brama, who release their seventh album, Tusen År, through Black Lodge Records and with it embark on a 45-minute journey through rock as timeless as it is willfully dated — a style they’ve long since mastered in an aesthetic they helped define — and yeah, I just don’t hear anything in these eight tracks that doesn’t work.

Founding vocalist Ulf Torkelsson and founding guitarist Per-Olof Andersson, partnered once again with the tenured rhythm section of bassist/backing vocalist Mats Rydström (also Avatarium) and drummer Fredrik Liefvendahl (formerly of Grand Magus) — in the band for six and 13 years, respectively — celebrate two decades since their initial single was released with a collection that basks in raw classic heavy rock energy and form. They cover Ashbury with the translated-into-Swedish “Vägen ut” and work in the tradition of bands like November and Träd, Gräs och Stenar in playing proto-heavy and progressive, folk-infused rock on a cut like “Slutet av tunneln,” which ends side A of a well-split vinyl record big on quality and light on pretense as only a band with two decades under its collective belt can be if it so chooses. If nothing else, Tusen År reaffirms that Abramis Brama have been long underrated in the international underground.

No doubt part of that is their Swedish lyrics, but in listening to their work on Tusen År, or the preceding 2014 outing Enkel Biljett (discussed here) or 2009’s more polished-seeming Smakar Söndag (review here), let alone a record like 2005’s Rubicon (discussed here), the fact that the songs are in Swedish is an essential part of the band’s character and sonic persona. It’s something from which they’ve veered only once, on 2003’s Nothing Changes (discussed here), and that’s something they still blame on their record label at the time, Sweden Rock. Either way, theirs stands among the most storied careers in the Swedish heavy rock, and tracks like the uptempo one-two kick of “Löpeld” and the ping-ride-infused roller “Vem du är” at the outset of Tusen År only underscore the immense respect the band is due.

Cleanly produced but overarchingly natural with backing vocal harmonies, hooks and flowing grooves, the initial salvo sets the tone for much of what follows, though as Abramis Brama move into the title-track, they immediately expand the palette of mood to encompass more brooding vibes and a bluesy harmonica solo from Torkelsson amid the sleek shuffle of the verse and bouncing chorus declension. At the halfway point, the title-track breaks into an acoustic-laced jam but eventually pulls back to the more weighted push of its hook before fading out and giving way to “Slutet av tunneln,” to which it has provided a subtle and fluid lead-in. The aforementioned side A closer has its louder moments, starting at 2:32 and just barely leaving room at the end for a return to the quiet acoustic guitar that started out, but the personality of the piece is more defined by its mellow vibe and offers a singular moment to which the winding course of Tusen År‘s side B will ultimately not return, in spite of expectation otherwise.

The shortest track on Tusen År at 3:24, “Fel kvinna” is primo boogie rock, thick in tone but well geared toward its rhythmic movement and subtly precise drumming, with little space for frills amid its hook and tambourine-inclusive drive. “Vengeance” was included on Ashbury‘s 1983 outing, Endless Skies, and apart from the translation and a better balance in the mix, Abramis Brama are pretty loyal to the original version, featuring the guitar in lead and rhythm layers atop a nodding groove and the flowing vocals that accompany. This departure from original material sets up the transition into closing duo “Hav av lögner” and “Ta mig tillbaka,” two of Tusen År‘s longest — 7:04 and 8:26 — tracks but also some of the catchiest, and, in a mirror of “Löpeld” and “Vem du är” at the beginning, two songs that work in a similar fashion to define some of the essential elements of the album as a whole.

Neither Abramis Brama‘s prowess as songwriters nor their chemistry as performers was in particular doubt, but both are reaffirmed in the ’70s boogie party of “Hav av lögner,” and I don’t care what’s your first language, by the time it gets around to delivering its title line, “Ta mig tillbaka” is 100 percent singalong-worthy. The closer starts out patiently and makes its way gradually through its initial verses, but don’t be fooled — the good times are on their way, and 20 years on from their first radio airplay, Abramis Brama sound like they’re having an absolute blast as “Ta mig tillbaka” swings to its harmonica-topped finish at about 7:30, only to give way to vague, echoing acapella vocals that remind of some lost 45RPM record from the mid-’60s but fade out as an epilogue to the absolute blast beforehand.

Like I said at the outset, there’s nothing to complain about here. This is simply a band aware of who they are and how to make their sound go where they want it to go, ace crafters of classic-style songs that bring a stamp of their own persona to everything they do. It’s not every year a new Abramis Brama comes along, but when one does, it’s almost certainly going to be an occasion to celebrate. That’s certainly the case with Tusen År.

Abramis Brama, “Vem är du”

Abramis Brama website

Abramis Brama on Thee Facebooks

Abeamis Brama on Instaram

Abramis Brama purchase portal

Black Lodge Records on Thee Facebooks

I’ll probably post it first, because of the time zone differences and all that, but you should know that I’ve waited until the end of my day to write about the new Abramis Brama album because I knew it would make me happy to think about it coming out and I wanted to finish the afternoon of putting posts together on a particularly high note. And yeah, the long-running Swedish outfit are good for that kind of thing. Tusen År will be their seventh long-player and first on Black Lodge Records, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to get some advanced coverage going for it — you know, beyond this — and maybe interview the band, who remain way, way underappreciated for their contributions to heavy rock both retro and modern.

Yeah, see? I knew that would feel good to think about. New Abramis Brama. What’s not awesome about that? It’s out in April.

From the PR wire:

Abramis Brama – Tusen År – Black Lodge Records

Abramis Brama returns with their seventh studio album in 2018, which also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut on the Swedish heavy rock scene and national radio airwaves with their signature song “Mamma talar”.

At the time, however, heavy rock with strong 60’s and 70’s roots, sung in their native Swedish tongue, was hardly in fashion. Still, Abramis Brama persevered, and aside from one album (by request of the record label at the time), the band has not swayed, nor betrayed their initial ideals of fusing the doomy thunder of Black Sabbath with the deep groove of Mountain and the lyrical tradition that started with Swedish cult band November in the late 60’s – also adding a Swedish folk influence and some psychedelic touches.

This has garnered them international praise and recognition from listeners and press alike, and by their solid, high energy live performances all over Sweden they’ve created a strong grassroots fan base, that stretch far outside the main cities.

“Tusen år”, the band’s debut for Black Lodge Records, is a very focused rock album that stays true to band’s ideals, and digs deeper with thoughtful, mature, and poetic lyrics – which both celebrate and lament our existence as humans on earth and beyond.

TRACKLIST:
01. Löpeld
02. Vem är du?
03. Tusen år
04. Slutet av tunneln
05. Fel kvinna
06. Vägen ut
07. Hav av lögner
08. Ta mig tillbaka

LINE-UP:
Ulf Torkelsson – lead vocals, harmonica
Per-Olof Andersson – electric and acoustic guitars
Fredrik Liefvendahl – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Mats Rydström – bass, backing vocals

www.abramisbrama.com
www.facebook.com/abramisbrama
www.instagram.com/abramisbramaofficial
http://smarturl.it/tusen-ar
https://www.facebook.com/blacklodgerecords/

Abramis Brama, “Lång Tripp” official video

Abramis Brama, Nothing Changes (2003)

Listening to Abramis Brama‘s 2003 third album, Nothing Changes, and especially taking it in kind with its excellent 2005 follow-up, Rubicon (discussed here), one can’t help but wonder if the Stockholm four-piece’s decision to sing in Swedish didn’t at least in part hold them back from taking the forward position in the retro rock movement that went to the likes of Graveyard just a few years later. I’ll confess a personal preference for the later outing, but it’s Nothing Changes that begs the question all the more, since it’s the one time (to-date) that the band compromised on their position, and the results are stunning. Older songs like “Abramis Brama” and “All is Black” are revamped, and from the Soundgarden-meets-Sabbath swing of “Just Like Me” and the also-flute-inclusive closer “Parts of My Mind (Still Remains Untouched),” the lineup of vocalist Ulf Torkelsson, guitarist Per-Olof Andersson, bassist Dennis Berg and drummer Fredrik Jansson soar and swing through a modus of interpreting classic heavy rock that could only be called prescient at the time of what would emerge over the following couple years. As much ahead of their time as behind it. A temporal paradox of a band.

Naturally, there are other factors involved, from touring and the level at which a group is promoted, to songwriting, to accessibility, to stage presence, to the simple coincidence of what else comes out in a given week, month, year, and so on. So it’s not fair to say not having English lyrics is the only factor to be taken into consideration, but neither is it nothing. Abramis Brama got their start with a self-titled demo in 1998, just around the time Örebro vintage-minded progenitors Norrsken — from whom Witchcraft and the aforementioned Graveyard sprang — were putting out their demos ahead of their lone single in 1999, and the Stockholm unit made their full-length debut with Dansa Tokjävelns Vals that same year via Record Heaven. With that and the subsequent När Tystnaden Lagt Sig… in 2001, Abramis Brama carved a niche for themselves in boogie and ’70s-style heavy riffing, and while in listening to “Know You’re Lying” after the linear build of opener “Abramis Brama” on Nothing Changes one can hear the scorching shuffle that Kyuss innovated so fluidly in the early and mid ’90s, even this became Abramis Brama‘s own through the loose-feeling swing, intricacy of the guitar work and the effectiveness of Torkelsson‘s vocals. The hooks in cuts like the percussion-funked “Anticlockwise Man” and the chunkier-sounding penultimate groover “Never Leaving My Mind” offer landmarks along a flowing full-album course, while centerpiece “All is Black” engages post-Mountain nod leading directly into the attitude-soaked title-track, marked out by its flourish of intertwining acoustic and electric guitar in the second half.

Hearing the 45-minute long-player front to back, it’s easy to envision a reality in which Abramis Brama, instead of adopting a fuller and more modern production on 2009’s Smakar Söndag (review here), spearheaded the charge of retroism that came out of Sweden at the time, but their creative path simply took them elsewhere, and as much as — particularly for someone who doesn’t speak the language, like my ignorant ass — one might look to their Swedish lyrics as a reason they haven’t been embraced by a broader international audience in the manner of some of their contemporaries, the basic fact is that their refusing to go back to English after Nothing Changes — the very title of which seems to convey a sense of defiance against the idea of doing so in the first place — has become an essential facet of their identity as a band, and even as Smakar Söndag and its 2014 follow-up, Enkel Biljett, brought them stylistically to a new aesthetic position, they’ve been able to retain a tie to their earlier material as a result. And, frankly, their songwriting has always been strong enough that language doesn’t matter in the first place, which is something else that a back-to-back listen from Nothing Changes to Rubicon plainly demonstrates.

However you want to get there, new or old, English or Swedish, the bottom line still works out to be that Abramis Brama are pretty undervalued when it comes to the general quality level of their output. It’s now been three years since Enkel Biljett came out and it was five between Smakar Söndag and that record after four between Rubicon and Smakar Söndag, and though it seems kind of early for them, they’ve said they’ll have a new album out before the end of 2017. Whether or not that comes to fruition, the social media updates show work in progress, and if it winds up being sometime next year instead, well, I’ll take it just about whenever it comes, and in whatever language.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

—

Yesterday and today both I woke up at about 3:30AM. We’re still way too early to be into any kind of established pattern, but now two weeks old, The Pecan has been up at that point the last two nights needing to be changed and fed, and with exclusive breastfeeding going on from The Patient Mrs., that puts me on changing duty. Fair enough. By then though, my alarm’s set to go off at 4:30, so I might as well get up. Not getting back to sleep. So whatever.

Hey, new parent is tired. I hear that’s a thing.

We had a couple rough days this week. I did, anyhow. The Patient Mrs. continues to be amazing. By 5PM on Wednesday I felt like I’d already failed as a parent, a member of this species and as a biological entity in general. It sucked. Yesterday morning was hard too as regards go-the-fuck-to-sleep, but again, I hear that’s a thing. We’re in survival mode, but thus far, we’re surviving. Miseries and joys along the way. Life. The coffee’s good.

Trying to write as much as I can between daddy-stuff. Doctor appointments, grocery shopping, diapers, cooking, cleaning, laundry, whatnot. Keeps me sane, but I feel like fatigue has been a factor this week. I’ve also has a couple of other announcements and writing things to do and more still to go outside the site, or at least not directly related to it, and that’s taken a toll. No real end to any of it. Email is a challenge. Facebook messages are a challenge. Gathering up the will to actually listen when someone just throws a Bandcamp link in a message with zero effort whatsoever and starts their note “Hey dudes” or something similar — definitely a challenge.

But I’m doing the best I can. With all of it. Everything. Some I’m winning, some I’m losing. Big or small, all those fish gotta get fried.

Notes are subject to change as always, but here’s what’s in ’em for next week:

Mon.: Nupraptor track stream/album review; Langfinger video premiere.
Tue.: Mangoo video premiere/album review.
Wed.: Six Dumb Questions with Great Electric Quest; new I Klatus video.
Thu.: Frank Sabbath review; whatever comes.
Fri.: T.G. Olson review; whatever comes.

Lots of news updates in there as well. Desertfest London and Berlin updated their lineups today and I need to get those posts together and Roadburn is soon to update its lineup as well, so there will be that. Busy, busy, busy. I’ll stay busy.

For now though, I’m gonna try to sneak in some time to read and chill out for about an hour or so until the next thing occurs to me that I need to immediately take care of. Oh wait, dishes. Yeah, gotta do dishes. Well, I almost got there.

Have a great and safe weekend. Thanks again for reading and please check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

Click Here to Download

[mp3player width=480 height=150 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=aot36.xml]

It was getting on two in the morning last night and I was yet again trying to figure out how to get the audio editing software I use to make podcasts to work on this laptop. Numerous failed downloads later, I decided screw it, I had nothing to lose, and I zipped up the directory containing the program on my old computer, WeTransfered it to myself, and unzipped it on the newer machine. Frickin’ worked. I couldn’t believe it. Proof that sometimes the stupidest solution of all is the way to go.

This is the first new podcast in a long time, I know. There’s been a lot of really cool stuff coming out in the last few months, but I wanted to still keep it as recent as possible. Some of this is out now and has been for a couple weeks, some of it isn’t out yet. I think it’s a good mix or I wouldn’t have uploaded it, and it gets pretty heavy for a while there, so watch yourself. Figured a good couple of rockers to open wouldn’t meet any complaints either, and hopefully that’s the case. Please enjoy.

First Hour:
Fu Manchu, “Radio Source Sagittarius” from Gigantoid (2014)
Radio Moscow, “Death of a Queen” from Magical Dirt (2014)
Abramis Brama, “Blåa Toner” from Enkel Biljett (2014)
The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, “Spoonful” from Through the Dark Matter (2014)
Boris, “Heavy Rain” from Noise (2014)
Eyehategod, “Robitussin and Rejection” from Eyehategod (2014)
Serpentine Path, “House of Worship” from Emanations (2014)
Triptykon, “Boleskine House” from Melana Chasmata (2014)
Wovenhand, “Field of Hedon” from Refractory Obdurate (2014)
Been Obscene, “Memories of Salvation” from Unplugged (2014)
1000mods, “Reverb of the New World” from Vultures (2014)
Electric Citizen, “Light Years Beyond” from Ghost of Me b/w Light Years Beyond (2014)

Second Hour:
Mars Red Sky, “The Light Beyond” from Stranded in Arcadia (2014)
Salem’s Pot, “Creep Purple” from Lurar Ut Dig På Prärien (2014)
Black Bombaim, “Arabia” from Far Out (2014)
Dopelord, “Pass the Bong” from Black Arts, Riff Worship and Weed Cult (2014)
Holly Hunt, “Prometheus” from Prometheus (2014)

Total running time: 2:01:21

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 036

It’s been a quick five years since Stockholm’s Abramis Brama released their last album, Smakar Söndag (review here), but the time differential seems to be something the long-running Swedish rockers are looking to address with Enkel Biljett, which immediately vibes more along the lines of their gloriously boogie-fied early works. This is twice as interesting since founding bassist Dennis Berg split in 2012, but Abramis Brama seem to have weathered the change well judging by the new song “Blåa Toner,” which can be streamed below courtesy of the Transubstans Soundcloud page. They sent the following info down the PR wire as well about the May 2 release for Enkel Biljett.

If you were looking for an excuse to learn Swedish other than their fantastic healthcare and general having-Western-Civilization-figured-out-ness try this:

Through the last 15 years Abramis Brama has released heavy, ecstatic, riff-oriented hard rock with Swedish lyrics and with the new album ”Enkel Biljett”, the band continues their journey with new found energy.

As the band’s sixth studio album, ”Enkel Biljett” proudly shares the heavy hard rock foundation with it’s predecessors and at the same time showcasing other dimensions of Abramis Brama than previously recorded.

2012 was a year of evolution in Abramis Brama, bassist and co-founding member Dennis Berg left the band after having completed a European tour including a live performance on the legendary German Tv show Rockpalast. Soon after, the remaining members found just what they were looking for in Mats Rydström (Backdraft, Pontus Snibb 3) who gladly accepted the offer to join the band. This progression gave the band new energy and inspiration that transpired in the studio and lead to nine vigorous songs.

The title track and lead single ”Enkel Biljett” was released in January 2014 (as a split vinyl with tour brothers Black Debbath of Norway). It was immediately picked up by the Swedish national radio and other commercial radio stations.

In Swedish the title ”Enkel Biljett” means one-way ticket, and the album is injected with a new spark and fire. The heavy riffs are of course still present as well as the psychedelic folky elements. Yet this time around there’s more to comprehend, savor and appreciate.

Current line-up:
Ulf Torkelsson, vocals.
Peo Andersson, guitar.
Fredrik Liefvendahl, drums.
Mats Rydström, bass.

https://www.facebook.com/transubstansrecords
https://www.facebook.com/AbramisBrama
http://www.abramisbrama.com/

Abramis Brama, “Blåa Toner” from Enkel Biljett (2014)

I could go through some big longwinded explanation and say I bought Abramis Brama‘s 2005 fourth album, Rubicon, because I think it’s important or has some measure of standing in the lore of Swedish heavy and/or classic rock, but fuck it. I bought this record because I wanted to hear it and that’s the story. I’d seen a couple things kicking around saying it’s the way to go as regards the Stockholm homage-payers, and I figured it was high time I picked up the album and gave it a real shot.

It’s not my first experience with the four- and apparently sometimes five-piece. I’ve written about them a few times here, including a review of their last album, 2009’s Smakar Söndag, which I dug a lot. They’re one of what seems to not be that many Swedish acts who refuse to sing in English, and though I speak literally no Swedish, I still have to admire the ethic. They compromised on it just once, but even the title of Nothing Changes — the 2003 English-language sidestep predecessor of Rubicon — seems to throw a middle finger up at the very idea of changing their approach. Some stubbornness is awesome, and with Rubicon, Abramis Brama went back to their mother tongue with a vengeance.

By the way, I’m assuming that along with Swedish their mother tongue is “riff,” because as much as they speak one language, they certainly also speak the other. Rubicon is about as genuine a modern interpretation of classic heavy rock as I’ve ever heard come out of Sweden, Abramis Brama having clearly honed their craft in the first eight years of their existence (they formed in ’97 and debuted with 1999’s Dansa Tokjävelns Vals) to a point where they could expand comfortably and put their own stamp on the form. I’m sure I won’t be the first to compare Ulf Torkelsson‘s vocals to Chris Cornell, but whether it’s the prog ending of “Guldgruva” or the pure “Dazed and Confused”-style chorus of the nine-minute “För Mitt Blödande Hjärta,” Torkelsson gives an absolutely killer showing. Pipes for days, it seems.

Speaking of “För Mitt Blödande Hjärta,” though, I had a head-turning moment when that chorus kicked in and immediately went back to Graveyard‘s “The Siren” from Hisingen Blues, which seems to have adapted pretty much the same progression to suit its own ’70s-worshiping purposes. Cool to hear something Abramis Brama were doing more than half a decade beforehand and give another context to the work of their countrymen, but really, the highlight of Rubicon isn’t comparing it to what’s come before or after, it’s enjoying its open, natural grooves on their own level. The more I listen to Abramis Brama and the more of their albums I hear — I’m coming for you, När Tystnaden Lagt Sig… — the more I appreciate what they’re doing both ethically and musically. The refusal to compromise coupled with the righteously formidable riffing of Per-Olf Andersson, the bass of Dennis Berg and Fredrik Jansson‘s drums on Rubicon are like a dogwhistle signalling a love of heavy rock. I can hear it, I can dig it, whatever language Torkelsson is speaking.

So mark Rubicon down among the slew of killer records I’ve picked up and wanted to recommend to anyone who might be open to such a recommendation. Their obvious love of the classics speaks for itself when you listen, so I’m going to leave it at that and put on the especially killer “Drottning Av Is” instead. Hope you dig it:

It’s basic and self-directed drunken cruelty that has me closing out this week with an awesome Swedish band that will likely never come to the States. I don’t really feel like getting into it, but the short version is I applied for a Fulbright to go to Sweden and write about rock bands and didn’t get it. Wait. No. That’s the long version. The short version is I’m going to live in New Jersey forever. There you go.

Ugh. What a week.

I didn’t even get to post the Black Pyramid interview. I’ll do that Monday. White Hills is playing Manhattan on Tuesday, but I don’t know if I’m actually going to make it out. They’re the Eastern Seaboard’s Farflung and all, but still, they might be too cool for me. Feeling awfully outclassed by life lately. Not sure if it’s the being old, the balding or the fat, but something’s doing it. At least I finally wrote on that Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats record. Great to be part of the crowd on that one.

Reviewing Alcest this week and I don’t know what else. Packages came in today from Electric Moon and Bushfire, so maybe them, but I’ve got a backlog of stuff and a bunch of digital-type promos that need organizing. Every CD I get is appreciated. Links less so. It’s a hard truth, but there it is. I can have 30 folders on my desktop from bands who want their shit written on, but if I can look at a cover like on The Hedons‘ disc, I’m gonna reach for that every time. Effort is met with effort. That’s science.

I’ve also decided to stop bolding place-names as of right now. Tired of seeing “Brooklyn” in bold on this site, and I’m pretty sure when I say “UK” people know I’m talking about the United Kingdom and it doesn’t need to be bold to get the point across. Either way, I’m sure you were very concerned about my fucking stylistic decisions.

New music this week from Brokaw (a full album stream on Monday) and something very special for Wino Wednesday that I’m not even gonna say yet because I don’t want to jinx it. It’s going to be really cool though, so tune in for it.

And the week after this one coming, if all goes to plan, I’ll be premiering a series of new columns written by people who aren’t me. More on that to come.

Alright, enjoy the weekend and be safe. See you on the forum and back here Monday for more Jersey-based hopelessness.