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Concert reviews Music

Review: Graveyard at the Garrison

GRAVEYARD at the Garrison, Friday, May 22. Rating: NNNN

Graveyard have two speeds: tight, mid-tempo rockin that’s perfect for banging your head to, and psych ballad slow where you can get lost in jammy blues-rock guitar solos. The Swedish four-piece, in Toronto for the first time, switched between those gears constantly at the completely rammed Garrison, both from song to song and within songs.

It resulted in a set with tons of dynamics but a somewhat halting pace. The enthusiastic crowd didn’t seem to mind, and vocalist/guitarist Joakim Nilsson’s gritty, soulful howl sounded particularly fine during the quieter moments. Jonatan Ramm rolled out blues lick after blues lick, drummer Axel Sjöberg established incredible groove, and bassist Truls Mörck (who used to be Graveyard’s lead guitarist and helped co-found the band) had no trouble filling the shoes of co-founder Rikard Edlund, who left in October.

All of Graveyard’s tunes are kind of old by now – their last album, Lights Out, came out in 2012 – but most of us had never heard them live before. Hisingen Blues from their same-named 2011 album was a knockout (no surprise), as was new offering The Shark, the first song of their encore. It lands on the head-banging end of their spectrum, and subtly emphasizes their progressive rock affinities by way of structural and rhythmic twists and turns.

Mostly, though, it left us seriously stoked for Graveyard’s fourth record, tentatively set for release in the fall.

carlag@nowtoronto.com | @carlagillis

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