Graveyard: Embracing Melancholia
Swedish hard rockers GRAVEYARD are a band who are quite happy to take things at their own pace. Looking back over their discography you can immediately see that they have never felt the need to fall into the two-year album cycle that many modern acts so often do. Rather, they take things as they come and strike when the time is right. For example, there was a gap of four years between their eponymous debut and their sophomore Hisingen Blues and then only a year separating that from their third effort Lights Out and then a further three years before their fourth record Innocence & Decadence.
So, the fact that the boys have taken five years since their release of their last effort Peace to write and record their sixth full-length album 6 will come as little to no surprise for their fans. “We came back from our last tour just before the first lockdown, and I think we were all thankful for the forced break. We were all a little tired,” explains bassist Truls Mörck. “We didn’t start writing for some time at first. The spark wasn’t there, but then after a little while we got together and starting writing songs for the new album. The time had to be right.”
From the first two singles released Breath In, Breathe Out and Twice it was apparent that album would be taking on a much darker and tense feel. “We never really have a concept per se. Rather when we first started writing the songs, we the songs took us that way and we leaned into it,” concedes Mörck. It’s clear that GRAVEYARD have truly embraced the melancholia on this album, which is even conveyed in the darkness in the music videos we have seen, with an almost sepia tone being used for Breathe In, Breathe Out. “The idea for the video was to explore the sense of loneliness, and what better way to do that then with the lighthouse keeper? One of the loneliest vocations in the world.”
Parts of the album were recorded at the infamous Silence Studios, situated around two hours north of Gothenburg. A location that is synonymous with Silence Records, which was the home of many of the Swedish underground bands from the late sixties. However, despite the allure of the historic studio, the band would not spend much time there before moving on. “We recorded about three songs over a week there before moving to a studio in the city of Gothenburg where we recorded the first three albums,” explains Mörck. The album was produced by Don Ahlsterberg, who returns to the chair after a two-album absence.
“We love recording with Don, as he gets the way we want it to sound. He is a real analogue nerd!” This album was done in a very sympathetic way to the albums of old, with the album being recorded entirely in the old-fashioned analogue method. Mörck explains how it forced everyone to up their collective game when it comes to laying down their own individual parts. “It changes your outlook of recording your parts. You get almost the same nerves that are present for a live show, as you know there are only a certain number of takes you can do before the sound quality begins to suffer. If you run the tape too much it begins to wear out.”
The resulting sound that is created from this process adds a whole new dimension to the recording. The human element can so often be removed during the modern process of recording with the use of clipping and compressing the takes until they become almost unrecognisable. However, with 6 you get everything, unburdened by the clinical sound provided modern technology and fully embracing the humanity of it all.
With the end of the year vastly approaching, GRAVEYARD are looking to take the new album on the road as soon as possible. However, at this point the only shows that have so far been announced are limited to the European region of Scandinavia. With more shows to be announced in the coming months it is truly and exciting time within the GRAVEYARD camp and an even more exciting time to be a fan of the band.
6 is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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