This one makes me happy. Australia’s Your Mate Bookings is bringing Greenleaf all the way from Sweden to do a nine-day tour Down Under and this humble site is among the presenters for the run. I’ve been lucky enough to have The Obelisk present some killer shows and tours at this point, but Greenleaf going to Australia? And doing so on the heels of last year’s Hear the Rivers (review here)? Yeah, that’s something special. And if you read the album’s title in that sentence just now and didn’t hear the chorus of the title-track in your head, I’m going to guess you haven’t yet properly dug into the record itself, which I can only heartily suggest you do at the next available moment. Now works. I’ll wait.
The ascension of Greenleaf this decade has been remarkable. From being a Dozer side-project to a full-time band, to a full-time touring band, they’ve lived up to and surpassed what I think most people expected of them, establishing a solidified lineup and embarking on a creative growth that has helped push heavy blues as a whole forward in Europe’s underground. Even as someone who’s never seen their current incarnation, their reputation precedes them, and as they continue to push ahead stylistically and in their chemistry and dynamic, I’m flat-out honored to be involved in presenting this tour in the small way I am, seeing them expand their geographic reach as well.
Tickets are on sale Monday. Go to the show if you can.
Here are the dates:
GREENLEAF – AUSTRALIAN HEAR THE RIVERS TOUR 2019
Supported by Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows
Thursday 31/10 Bendigo Hotel Collingwood VIC Friday 1/11 @Altar Hobart TAS Saturday 2/11 Northcote Social Club Northcote VIC Sunday 3/11 Enigma Bar Adelaide SA Wednesday 6/11 Heritage Hotel Bulli NSW Thursday 7/11 Transit Bar Canberra ACT Friday 8/11 The Vanguard Newtown NSW Saturday 9/11 Crowbar Brisbane Fortitude Valley QLD Sunday 10/11 Vinnies Dive Gold Coast QLD
Presented by YOUR MATE Bookings Get On The Stage The Bong Shop and The Obelisk
One usually thinks of Sweden’s Deville as having a pretty pro-shop kind of sound. That is, when there’s a new Deville record coming out, I expect that it’s going to sound clear and full in a kind of accessible way that, in an alternate universe, would be radio-friendly. Listening to the recordings they made April 19, 2019, at Sunnanå Studios in Arlöv, I think they might need to track their next album live. Like, entirely live. The four-piece of guitarists Andreas Bengtsson (also vocals) and Andreas Wulkan, bassist Martin Nobel and drummer Martin Fässberg released their Pigs with Gods (review here) full-length last year through Fuzzorama, and it wasn’t lacking for either vitality or presence, but listening to Bengtsson and Wulkan come together on vocals in the hook of “Hell in the Water,” which opens this four-song set in the sub-15-minute video, they nail it in such a way as to make me wonder why they’d ever do anything else. Likewise the gruffer approach and rumble of “Lost Grounds,” the aggro crash of “Wrecked” (which has a confetti drop at the end of it; keep an eye out) and the ultra-righteous apex of “Chief” that rounds out. If you can do that live, do it. Not everyone can.
For those of us who’ve never seen this incarnation of Deville live — when they toured the US a few years back, it was with a different rhythm section — it’s also an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the dynamic they bring to the stage. It’s not going to be the same, of course, as they’re arranged facing each other in a circle and in a studio setting, but you can still see Nobel‘s metallic roots in how he headbangs to the songs, and the care Fässberg puts into propelling the grooves that are laced throughout. Deville are a band about songwriting more than technical flash, but they bring a spirit of performance here that gives another dimension to their work. In tone and in the basic energy, the Sunnanå session speaks to the essential drive behind what they do. It’s not necessarily that it’s rougher than their regular studio output — if it is at all, it’s not much; they still come across clear and professional — but the directness of their craft, its unabashed hooks, benefits from the immediacy of the circumstance. They sound killer, is the bottom line. I think these guys are kind of underrated as songwriters in part because their style is so straightforward, but they’re exceptional in their delivery, and that’s what’s emphasized so fervently in this footage.
So yeah, I’m not trying to tell anyone their business, or how to live their life, or how to make their next album, but the side they show of themselves here is definitely one worth revisiting, be it through a live record at some point or however they might go about it.
I’m happy to host the premiere, and Bengtsson has some comment on offer afterward.
Please enjoy:
Deville, Sunnanå Studios live session video premiere
Andreas Bengtsson on Sunnanå Studios session:
Chose songs that haven’t been played that much and some that have. Three from our latest album “Pigs with Gods” and one older. This is our first real live recording in a studio that has been filmed. Imagine it took so long to make one. We have been told many times that we are better live than on the record so let’s see what people think.
Tracklisting: 1. Hell in the Water 2. Lost Grounds 3. Wrecked 4. Chief
Recorded 2019-04-19 at Sunnanå Studios, Arlöv, Sweden.
Director of photography : Henrik Christoffersson
Sound engineering : Markus Nilsson
Deville lineup: Andreas Bengtsson: guitar/vocals Andreas Wulkan: guitar Martin Nobel: bass Martin Fässberg: drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 12th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
As the initial promise was eight bands and there are now eight bands confirmed, I’m going to hazard the guess that the lineup for Truckfighters‘ Fuzz Festival #1 this December in Stockholm is complete. The second round of adds includes Skraeckoedlan, Witchrider, Parasol Caravan and Electric Hydra, following up on the initiaL announcement, which included Truckfighters — obviously — Greenleaf, Deville and Motorowl. I think I noted last time around that I had been kicking around the idea of doing an Obelisk All-Dayer in Sweden, and indeed, Debaser Strand was a venue I had been looking at. This pretty much kills that idea. I was thinking June, not December, but how many festivals does one venue in Stockholm hold when there haven’t really been any there before? You see my point.
I’ll go back to the drawing board and figure something out, and maybe do something somewhere else. We’ll see.
And in the meantime, good for Truckfighters, not only doing the reunion thing after a shortlived hiatus, but coming back with something new on offer as well.
Dig it:
New bands announced for Truckfighters Fuzz Festival in Stockholm
We are happy to announce:
SKRAECKOEDLAN – Sweden. Norrköpings, finest stoner rock band. Recently released the stunning album ‘Eorþe’ they will deliver an experience out of the ordinary. https://www.facebook.com/SKRAECKOEDLAN/
WITCHRIDER – Austria. The occult stoner sound from Graz will sound in Stockholm. Can not be anything but good music since these guys are born in the same town as Arnold Schwarzenegger. https://www.facebook.com/witchriderband/
PARASOL CARAVAN – Austria. Classic stoner sound with a magic groove all the way from Linz. Yeah not just one but two bands from the country famous for the mountains and the stoner rock ;) https://www.facebook.com/parasolcaravan/
With previously announced acts TRUCKFIGHTERS, GREENLEAF, DEVILLE and MOTOROWL the line up is now complete. Not time enough for more bands in one night. It’s gonna be a super rad evening as we guarantee every band on the bill is stellar. We intend to make this an annual event so grab your ticket and support the fuzzy scene. The sooner we sell out the bigger the plans for 2020 editions will become.
In the crafting of any history, there’s a creation of narrative. It happens all the time in pop culture, and if you don’t think so, go look around anywhere people in their 20s are and look at all the Nirvana t-shirts, or anywhere people in their 40s are and look at their Led Zeppelin shirts. It’s in our nature to take complex things and simplify them so as to bring them into the reach of our sadly limited understanding.
The only trouble with that, of course, is any paring down of actual events leads to omission. Part of it is history being written by the victors — and that’s true in music too; see the above-named bands — but sometimes it’s just about what is a convenient, linear tale, and anything else gets treated like an exception to the rule of what happened. Well, hello Spiritual Beggars.
Formed in Sweden in 1992, Spiritual Beggars, as an offshoot of guitarist Michael Amott‘s pioneering grind in Carcass, are such an anomaly. Not only were they a kind first-wave group in the international movement of stoner rock — see also Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Fu Manchu, Electric Wizard, Acrimony, etc. — but they came together with a different base of influence an a mission more strictly rooted in classic heavy rock, due essentially to Amott‘s being a fan of the heavy ’70s. In a power-trio configuration with drummer Ludwig Witt — who is the only other consistent original member –and bassist/vocalist Christian “Spice” Sjöstrand, the band released their self-titled debut in 1994 and followed it with Another Way to Shine in 1996.
Even as labelmates on Music for Nations to the likes of Anathema and Paradise Lost and among other heavy rock practitioners of the time, Spiritual Beggars were a standout for the coherence of their approach. As other bands were discovering their sound, Spiritual Beggars seemed to know what they wanted almost immediately, and Another Way to Shine showed that in the multi-layer solo strut of “Sour Stains,” in the catchy depressive hook of “Nowhere to Go,” the semi-psychedelic flourish of “Misty Valley” earlier and the mid-paced fuzzout boogie of closer “Past the Sound of Whispers.” Of its era in many ways — a 50-minute runtime is nothing if not a marker of a ’90s release — Another Way to Shine even more than the debut before it was able to craft something new out of what had been done before. With a rousing start in “Magic Spell,” the band put the focus on Amott‘s guitar as one might expect, but even in so doing, and even with the undeniable metallic tinge to some of his leads, they found an avenue that was their own in tapping into what were the roots of heavy rock in the first place. Second cut “Blind Mountain,” the six-minute jammer “Entering into Peace” and the grittier riffing of the title-track.
As to why Spiritual Beggars aren’t tossed out in the same breath as some of the more pivotal groups of their generation, I think part of it is down to the creation of a narrative. Probably most kin to Acrimony, even compared to them, they were on their own wavelength, and while their classic affinity would prove prescient in terms of what became Sweden’s retroist movement beginning a few years later with Norrska and developing into an aesthetic with the advent of Witchcraft, Graveyard, and so on, and while on a basic level of heavy rock, they managed to precede the arrival of the likes of Dozer and Lowrider and their set, they were always on a different trip. Especially for being a side-project, their accomplishments didn’t fit smoothly into what has become the story of heavy rock and roll, and so, there you go.
No question part of it is also lineup. While Amott and Witt — who also played in Firebird with Carcass‘ Bill Steer and currently features in Grand Magus with JB Christoffersson, who was vocalist in Spiritual Beggars from 2002-2010 — have remained consistent all these years, others have come and gone. Per Wiberg (also of Opeth, Candlemass, etc.), joined on keys in 1998. Spice was out after 2001’s Ad Astra, which also rules, and in addition to bringing in Christoffersson to front the band, Roger Nilsson of The Quill and Amott‘s post-Carcass melodeath outfit Arch Enemy was brought in to handle bass, to be replaced in 2005 by Sharlee D’Angelo, also of Arch Enemy and Mercyful Fate. The aughts would prove less productive for Spiritual Beggars in no small part because of the ascension to prominence of Arch Enemy in the world of metal, as they essentially went from being one side-project to another. This, along with the rotating cast — in 2010, Christoffersson left to focus on Grand Magus and vocalist Apollo Papathanasio of Greece’s Firewind and numerous other outfits took over. The ensuing album, Return to Zero (review here), indeed felt refreshed, and it was followed by 2013’s Earth Blues (discussed here) and the most recent studio offering, Sunrise to Sundown (review here), which came out in 2016.
Even as Amott has revived Carcass and kept Arch Enemy going, Spiritual Beggars have remained a presence in Europe’s heavy rock underground, but I think the complication of their own history is some factor in why they don’t seem to have gotten their due either for their longevity (in one form or another) or their contributions to their genre. In some ways, they almost happened too early. Not just in the sense of pre-social media — hell, pre-internet — word of mouth promotion of bands, but also just on a basic level of having an audience there to understand where they were coming from. While listening today, Another Way to Shine might sound dated in its production — it was remastered in 2007, but is begging for a thorough going-over to really bring out the depth in what they were doing — in terms of the raw songwriting and performance, it’s nothing less than the classic heavy rock from which it took inspiration, and its reach nearly a quarter-century later is no more diminished.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Did I mention thanks for reading? Okay good.
I’m back in Massachusetts now. We flew in from Shannon in Ireland yesterday — I’m told the American president was there at the same time we were, and we certainly saw heightened security en route to the airport, but did not catch a glimpse of his douchebaggedness — and got into Logan in Boston at around 2:30. Like two hours of needless traffic later, we were back home. Today we’ll drive to Connecticut and tomorrow on to New Jersey, where I think we’re pretty much set to stay until we have to come back north to move out of this place. There’s other travel between here and there — I have to come back to Massachusetts later this coming week for dental work, and Maryland Doom Fest will have us further south in another week’s time — but we’re taking our clothes to New Jersey, which would seem to me at least to indicate a new base of operations. I have to send out a big change of address email, but when people have hit me up lately to send records, I’ve been telling them to send to New Jersey. My beloved Garden State. I look forward to having this move finished, which I don’t expect it will be much before August, unless this place sells sooner. Which would be nice.
So that’s complex, but proceeding. The Ireland trip — woof. That was difficult. Traipsing around the Emerald Isle with a bitey, confused, constantly-nap-deprived 19-month-old is not something I would recommend to, well, anyone I wished well. But we got through it, staying in dumpy-ass hostels, plus one night in a decent hotel and two sleeps at an AirBnB that felt like a life-preserver in Derry. Nothing against Ireland itself, understand, but the circumstances of this trip, the amount of bus time, the baby, and so on, were exceedingly hard. I was ready to come home after about four days, and the trip went two weeks. It was some of the most slogging travel I’ve done, and a genuine strain, despite the gorgeous scenery.
But it’s over. On to the next thing.
Part of the rationale in scurrying off to Jersey this weekend is being able to catch Solace and Eternal Black — you’ll note the latter’s album stream went up today — in Brooklyn tomorrow. Review of that will be posted on Monday, so keep an eye out. Here’s what else is in the notes for the week, subject to change as always:
MON 06/10 SOLACE LUCKY 13 LIVE REVIEW, SAMAVAYO VIDEO PREMIERE, GLITTER WIZARD VIDEO, GIMME RADIO WRAP-UP
TUE 06/11 YAWNING MAN FULL STREAM/REVIEW
WED 06/12 ROADSAW REVIEW, IRATA VIDEO PREMIERE
THU 06/13 NEBULA REVIEW
FRI 06/14 MARS RED SKY VIDEO PREMIERE
Yeah, Monday’s busy, but Monday’s always busy, and honestly, I’m just happy to be back on my home-base laptop — was traveling with a Chromebook because, you know, if it got stolen I wouldn’t lose everything like I did last year in England — so writing should be fun. Plus it’s all good stuff and that helps.
The Gimme Radio show is today at 1PM Eastern time. If you get to check it out, thank you. It’s a wrap-up of some of the best stuff of 2019 so far. Listen at http://gimmeradio.com.
I think that’s gonna do it for me. It’s 5:42AM, the baby’s up and I’ve got other posts to put together for today as well as what I expect will be a glorious shower to take, so everybody please have a great and safe weekend. Have fun, rock and roll, and please do the Forum, Radio, merch thing accordingly.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 7th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Spotify doesn’t seem to remember I have an account, but even in the 28-second sample of the new single from Malmö, Sweden’s Pyramido there’s a satisfying bit of screamy post-sludge to entice one further as regard their upcoming fifth long-player, Fem (Swedish for ‘five’), which will see release on Sept. 27 in a new alliance with The Sign Records. Given the band’s history, I wouldn’t necessarily expect the entirety of “Utvägen” to speak for the whole of Fem, let alone less than a minute thereof. So as to the rest, we’ll just have to wait until Fall to find out. I have the feeling it’s going to be a crowded release season — already Pyramido share a date with the new Mars Red Sky, and I don’t at all think they’ll be the only two — so they’re smart to get the word out early in order to carve out their place ahead of the pack.
If you want to hear “Utvägen,” it’s below — I’m sure you’re account works just fine; I’m just old; you should’ve seen me trying to download an ebook the other night; so sad — so dig in, and here are the album details from the PR wire:
PYRAMIDO to release new album ’Fem‘ in Autumn 2019
Release first single “Utvägen”.
Pyramido is set to release their new album ”Fem” on The Sign Records. Today marks the release of the first single “Utvägen”. The new material breathes and evolves naturally, not being afraid of trying out new tempos, melodies or ideas sometimes foreign to the genre. Drawing inspiration from the delicate melodic figures of dreamy 90‘s indie rock, the folky fuzz of vintage Swedish psychedelia and the bittersweet harmonies of Henrik Berggren and Broder Daniel.
Then imagine these influences being suffocated by the impact of the heaviness and aggression that is Pyramido, leaving only about a few percent of them passably breathing. The result being a somewhat heavy-hearted and melodic sludge metal/hardcore attack, once perfectly described as ”…a warm hug rather than a punch in the face”. The new album ”Fem” is set for release by The Sign Records the 27th of September.
The new album, entitled simply ”Fem”, which is Swedish for the number five, was recorded and mixed during the fall of 2018, with engineer John Rönnerblad. The band have previously released four full-length records, a number of EP‘s and played every dark and damp squat of Europe you might imagine existing.
The album will be released on Vinyl, CD and Digital.
Tracklist: Born to run Living Dead Resort Ensign Källbacks’s legends Realization Five
Pyramido is: Ronnie Källback Henrik Wendel Dan Hedlund Dan Widing Sticky Manchester
Posted in audiObelisk on June 5th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
As noted here just last week, Swedish hippie collective Children of the Sün will release their debut album, Flowers, on July 26 through The Sign Records. The light-drenched heat of summer would seem to be a fitting arrival time for the record, which finds the band purposefully basking in hippie vibes and upbeat spirit, bringing together harmonies that recall Church of the Cosmic Skull without the cultish undertones and with a thread of classic heavy rock that might be attributed to an influence from fellow Swedes MaidaVale, as well of course as classic sources from the late-’60s sunshine era, summer of love, autumn of love, winter of love, spring of love. Lots of love to go around.
They join a variety of retro-minded compatriots on the roster of The Sign, but Children of the Sün have a decidedly modern feel in terms of production, and that only serves to highlight the arrangements of vocals and shimmering guitar on lead single “Her Game.” It’s an immediate surge of energy forward at the outset of the 4:33 track, with space given to the setup for the central groove before the hook is unveiled and the eight-piece get fully underway, with guitar, keys, multiple vocalists, drums and bass filling out a vibrant mix. Just before about two and a half minutes in, there’s a lower note on guitar that steps through some pauses, but the solo that leads to retains the bright feel of the rest of the track, so there’s no departing from the basic spirit of the track, which despite the lyric’s warning, “Don’t play her game,” is lush and optimistic.
Summer’s not as long a way off as it feels — July is, technically speaking, next month — but I’ve only heard two songs thus far from Flowers. The other is “Emmy,” a bluesier, lower-key number with organ running alongside the soulful vocals, different in mood but not incongruous from “Her Game.” As to what the rest of the long-player might hold, I can’t say for sure and won’t speculate on specifics, but with the showcase provided by “Her Game,” I’m certainly left interested to find out, which is the whole point of a lead single in the first place. So, well done.
Stream “Her Game” via the player below, followed by more from the PR wire about the album.
Enjoy:
Flowers set for release the 27th of July on The Sign Records. Mixing blues rock with a warm feel good folk/country vibe, their sound is retro yet fresh. The band debut album holds strong influences from Janis Joplin, Free and Joe Cocker, still the band can be placed somewhere in the same atmosphere as The Allman Brothers Band, Jefferson Airplane and Canned Heat. A reincarnation of the 60´s feeling of nature, soul and rock music can be found in Children of the Sün’s debut album.
Flowers holds seven songs playing for 34 minutes. Album cover is done by Maarten Dodders that previously provided artwork for bands as MaidaVale, Graveyard, Blues Pills and Chelsea Wolfe. Children of the Sün hailing from the deep woods of Värmland, Sweden brings both nature and freedom to their album. The recording was done in ES Music in Karlstad, Sweden. Children of the Sün won the Swedish national music competition Livekarusellen in 2018. In 2019 the band was added to The Sign Records rooster, the label have among other released bands as Hällas, MaidaVale, Heavy Feather and Svartanatt.
Live Dates: 27th of July, Olssons Brygga, Arvika, Sweden 31st of August, Festival of the Midnight Sun, Mantorp, Sweden
Band members: Josefina Ekholm Berglund Ottilia Ekholm Berglund Wilma Ås Jacob Hellenrud Ida Wahl Anna Nilsson Christoffer Eriksson Sara Berkesi
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Consider this an early heads up as next week — at least I think that’s next week; gotta check my notes — I’ll be streaming the debut single from Swedish hippie folk rockers Children of the Sün‘s first album, Flowers. The band released a self-titled EP last year that you can hear through Spotify on the player below, and they’ll have Flowers out on July 26 through The Sign Records, which is a haven for all things Sverige and retro as Children of the Sün are most certainly both, channeling peace-loving vibes of half a century ago into lush folk harmonies and an underlying sense of rock that doesn’t seek to undercut the friendliness, but add to it. The track I’ll premiere is called “Her Game,” so keep an eye out.
Here is the album announcement, so we’re all properly schooled in advance:
Children of the Sün join The Sign Records
Debut album ’Flowers‘ out July 26, 2019
Children of the Sün joins The Sign Records. The band will release their debut album “Flowers” the 26th of July 2019.
“Her Game” is the first single from the upcoming album and will be out the 6th of June. The Swedish band is influenced by the American music scene during the 60´s and 70´s. They hold a timeless sound that is not often heard of today. There is a lot of focus on vocal harmonies in the bands music, something that brings a feel good mood to the music.
Flowers features seven songs clocking in at 34 minutes. Album cover is done by Maarten Donders who previously provided artwork for bands such as MaidaVale, Graveyard, Blues Pills and Chelsea Wolfe.
Children of the Sün hail from the deep woods of Värmland, Sweden bringing both nature and freedom to their album. The recording was done in ES Music in Karlstad, Sweden.
Children of the Sün won the Swedish national music competition Livekarusellen in 2018. Children of the Sün fits perfectly on The Sign Records roster, the label has among others released similar bands as Hällas, MaidaVale, Heavy Feather and Svartanatt.
Live Dates: 27th of July, Olssons Brygga, Arvika, Sweden 31st of August, Festival of the Midnight Sun, Mantorp, Sweden
Children of the Sün Biography: In 1969 Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin and many others played the legendary Woodstock Festival. No one since has managed to reincarnate the feeling of nature, soul and rock music, that was on that magical field north of New York, since. Until now.
Children of the Sün look like hippies, sound like hippies and they bring a wooden sun on stage. The sunshine comes by itself.
This year the band won the national finals of the Swedish music competition ‘Livekarusellen’. During the summer they played at events such as ‘Putte i parken’, Arvika hamnfest’ and ‘Karl Oskarsdagarna’.
In the beginning of the summer they also released their debute in form of a self titled EP. Now the band is back at it again, working on their first full length album.
Band members: Josefina Ekholm Berglund Ottilia Ekholm Berglund Wilma Ås Jacob Hellenrud Ida Wahl Anna Nilsson Christoffer Eriksson Sara Berkesi
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 29th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
The self-appointed slogan of Stockholm-based four-piece Alfavrak is “vanlig jvla rock,” which basically translates to “regular heavy rock” or something thereabouts. The message comes through pretty clearly on the band’s new single, “Gud, du har förpackat mej fel,” which, according to a major internet company’s translation matrix, runs somewhere near, “God, You Have Packed Me Wrong.” So clearly some colloquialism at work. Fine. I’m willing to roll with it, and I honestly think that if you listen to the track, which runs a regular-ol’ sub-three minutes, they’ll get the message across. Alfavrak aren’t shooting for anything fancy here, and I don’t think they really need to. Regular-type rock does them just fine, and in an age of hyper-specialization, it’s kind of refreshing to have a rock band call it like it is.
And it should probably go without saying that the lyrics, like the song title and the band’s name — which is “alpha wreck” in English — are also in Swedish, but the message comes through in the echoing jangle of guitar, the weight of the groove and the reverb-soaked vocals. It’s a modern sound with a classic and somewhat bluesy foundation, but again, Alfavrak aren’t splitting hairs, so maybe I shouldn’t either. The new track follows a 2018 two-songer that’s available to stream via Spotify, Bandcamp, etc. — basically where streaming happens, I guess — and while I don’t know what their plans are going forward, whether they’ll do more singles, an EP, album, whatever, they certainly have a sense of what they’re looking for aesthetically, and they manage to make ordinary happen without sounding, you know, too ordinary about it.
Their announcement of the single’s release was — of course — plain and simple:
New single out! Recorded in the dustward.
Alfavrak gives you raw rock ‘ n roll without frills a.k.a. ordinary jvla rock!
Probably most kin to Acrimony, even compared to them, they were on their own wavelength, and while their classic affinity would prove prescient in terms of what became Sweden’s retroist movement beginning a few years later with Norrska and developing into an aesthetic with the advent of Witchcraft, Graveyard, and so on, and while on a basic level of heavy rock, they managed to precede the arrival of the likes of Dozer and Lowrider and their set, they were always on a different trip. Especially for being a side-project, their accomplishments didn’t fit smoothly into what has become the story of heavy rock and roll, and so, there you go.
