Fever
Graveyard sound ready to move on Fever. Where Six often turned inward, these nine songs favour forward motion, warm distortion and a rhythm section that knows when to push. The Swedish band's seventh album keeps the blues at its centre, but gives the familiar sound more bite. It is a direct record without being a flat one.
Back From The Grave sets the terms with a heavy groove and a thick layer of fuzz. Tongue Tied then brings a more immediate kind of energy, showing how much these songs gain from the band's sense of movement. The production helps: the instruments feel close together, with enough warmth to make the rough edges part of the appeal.
A Better Cut (Note To Self) makes room for guitar leads without letting the song lose its shape. Time To Tell leans further into the blues and adds a slightly hazier mood. Those changes matter on an album that largely leaves the ballads behind. Graveyard avoid making every heavy moment sound equally heavy, even when the basic ingredients remain much the same.
Not everything has the same pull. Don't Shoot! is a less convincing turn, and the album's commitment to keeping things moving occasionally leaves a song with less character than it needs. Fever is not trying to redraw the band's boundaries, so anyone hoping for a major change will find a confident variation on an established sound.
The closing Dead Note makes that limitation easier to accept. Its longer shape gives the band room to build tension and lets the emotional side of their playing come through. It leaves a stronger impression than a simple final burst of volume would have done.
Fever works because Graveyard understand the difference between sounding old and sounding alive. The references are familiar, but the energy, guitar tone and attention to groove keep this return to heavier ground convincing.
