An old-school fever stalks this present-day graveyard.
Though perhaps best known as the hub of the original 90s melodic death metal wave and the hometown of heavy metal revivalists HammerFall, Gothenburg is a city that has come to produce a rich variety of sonic craftsmen. For their part, old school hard rock revivalists Graveyard present a highly unique blend of influences even when matched against the broader music world beyond their aforementioned locale.
Among the most primordial figures to impact their resulting sound are the likes of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, as noted by front man and guitarist Joakim Nilsson, laying a vintage auditory foundation upon which sits an eclectic array of rock icons from Cream and Black Sabbath to the earliest studio work of Fleetwood Mac. The result has been an auspicious and prolific career of bringing the old ways to a new generation spanning the better part of 20 years, running from their eponymous 2007 debut up to the present, with their seventh and most recent studio LP Fever striking a consistently rugged yet charming chord.
Hitting the ground running like a power quartet from a bygone era, Graveyard dredges up nine anthems of heavy rocking goodness from the cemetery grounds in a manner highly reminiscent of the heyday of jam bands and analog recordings. The flow that is established is of a free and loose character, betraying this fold’s preference for recording live as a full unit over individually to the beat of a click track and spearheaded by the rustic heavy rocking template set by bassist Truls Morck and drummer Oskar Bergenheim after the spirit of Cream.
Combined with the fuzz-drenched and swamp riff work of Jonatan Ramm and helmsman Joakim Nilsson, this vintage auditory amalgam often veers into a modern stoner rock/metal vibe and comes off heavy enough to trade blows with the likes of Sleep and Electric Wizard. But the lynchpin in truly setting the sound of these songs apart from the pack is Nilsson’s gritty and imposing roar, which splits the difference between the dirtier end of the spectrum of classic blues vocalists and the more poetic swagger of Jim Morrison brilliantly.
While this outfit’s affinity is for the freewheeling days of the late 60s and early 70s when bands would rock out for extended durations, the structure of this harrowing opus is generally accessible and concise. Be it the up-tempo assaults of “Tongue Tied”, “Year Of The Horse” and “Room Tempered” that function as missing links between the swifter side of Deep Purple and the more chaotic displays of Black Sabbath, or more slow to mid-paced fits of bluesy woe like the opening banger “Back From The Grave” and its ironically happy-go-lucky grooving cousin “Don’t Shoot!”, the rule tends to be conventionally structured songwriting that hovers around the four minute mark.
Then again, the frequency of Bill Ward-inspired detailing streaming out of Bergenheim’s kit work and the intermitted fuzz-drenched lead guitar breaks that weave in and out of the mix finds most of these songs bursting at the seams with ideas in spite of their brevity. But when push comes to shove, this is an album that cooks in moderately sized doses save for the jazzy balladry of closing entry “Dead Note”, which takes on a more gradual character, driven by a signature bass performance out of Morck and a far more dynamically rich blend of crooning to complement Nilsson’s usual assortment of gravely growls.
In a time where retro rock is a fairly popular trend and from a place where playing loud and heavy is the norm, Graveyard is a band that still manages to stand apart from the crowd. There are a lot of familiar elements at play that can be accounted for over the past 6 decades of rock’s history, yet the way they come together on Fever’s 38 minute run are a testament to a band that has made it their business to find new ways to perform old tricks.
It functions both as a smorgasbord of immediately tasty sonic treats that impact one’s palate at first listen, as well as a grower with enough details and staying power to remain interesting after the initial novelty has subsided. It’s a tad shy of the same insanely gripping caliber as their 2011 sophomore outing and de facto magnum opus Hisingen Blues, but it hits all the right notes to stand tall among the many LPs already under their proverbial belt, and is definitely among the better old school rock albums of 2026. Whether one has been riding the psychedelic rock train since it first hit the tracks over 5 decades ago or is a more recent passenger, Fever is the sort of sonic affliction that everyone needs to catch.
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Record Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Hard Rock
Musicians:
- Joakim Nilsson / Guitar and Vocals
- Truls Mörck / Bass and Vocals
- Oskar Bergenheim / Drums
Fever Tracklist:
- Back From The Grave
- Tongue Tied 04:03
- A Better Cut (Note To Self)
- Year Of The Horse
- A Means To An End 03:43
- Time To Tell
- Don’t Shoot!
- Room Tempered
- Dead Note
Order the album here.
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