It’s interesting to hear initial reactions from people who are unfamiliar with Sweden’s greatest rock exports like Graveyard and Witchcraft. Many exclaim, “ooh, Led Zeppelin” but with perhaps mixed feelings. After all, it could dredge up bad memories of Whitesnake circa 1987, when David Coverdale probably shrugged and said “to hell with it,” slobbed Satan’s knob, shamelessly aped Robert Plant and co. and sold millions of records. While Led Zep are the closest point of reference to many, an even casual listen will reveal that these bands have little in common with Zep copyists. While there’s always a ghost of Black Sabbath lurking about (as there is in nearly all heavy music), these bands are true proto-metal nerds, digging deep into forgotten but great early 70s heavy blues, psych and prog bands like Cactus, Leaf Hound, Truth and Janey, November and Captain Beyond.
Örebro, Sweden’s Captain Crimson even named their album, Dancing Madly Backwards after a Captain Beyond track. The band is lead by seasoned veteran Stefan Norén, who sang and played guitar with Blowback for the past decade. Compared to his work on their last album, 800 Miles (Transubstans, 2010), his performance with Captain Crimson sounds more gritty and urgent. While the album has some substantially heavy moments on the likes of “Mountain of Sleep,” “River” and “Lonely Devils Club,” they don’t try to out-fuzz Dozer or Truckfighters. Instead they lean towards a more textured and nuanced approach, like the bluesy “Don’t Take Me For A Fool,” which carries an emotional heft that measures up to some of Graveyard’s best performances.
Some may balk at the retro elements. While I’m a fan of most of the aformentioned bands from the early 70s, I don’t think Captain Crimson rips off any ideas or riffs from any of them that much. If anything, I believe they improve on the overall consistency and quality of songwriting, as does Witchcraft and Graveyard. They revel in the fat, warm analog recordings sounds of the early 70s while still sounding fresh. While there are no shortage of bands that continue to pay homage to the sounds of traditional heavy metal, NWOBHM, doom and fuzzed-out desert stoner rock, there seems to be plenty of territory left to explore in the cracks between the less heralded bands from the proto-metal, heavy blues, psych and prog territory. These past couple years has seen a bit of a renaissance in that area with American bands Ice Dragon and Fellwoods, Germany’s Kadavar, Orcus Chylde and Heat, UK’s Cherry Choke, Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, and Horisont from Sweden and of course exciting upcoming releases from fellow Swedes Witchcraft, Spiders and Graveyard. Captain Crimson measures up very well in this context, and my addiction for that sound has kept me craving more. More please! Thanks to The Soda Shop for turning me on to them back on July 3.
While last week’s release from The Darkness was a bit of a false start (repeated listens revealed they just couldn’t match the songwriting of their first album), the summer drought is finally over, as today is a massive day for releases. While for me it’s no contest that Captain Crimson tops the pile as one of my most anticipated releases of the Fall, there’s also these excellent releases:
- Maxïmo Park – The National Health (Warp/Straight To The Sun) 28-Aug
- Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – Don’t Hear It … Fear It! (Rise Above/Metal Blade) 28-Aug
- Gypsyhawk – Revelry & Resilence (Metal Blade) 28-Aug
- Wild Nothing – Nocturne (Captured Tracks) 28-Aug
- Swans – The Seer (Young God) 28-Aug
- Matthew Dear – Beams (Ghostly International) 28-Aug
- Eagle Twin – The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale (Southern Lord) 28-Aug
