Graveyard Train - Hollow (12/07/2012)
Graveyard Train are a Melbourne based septet of manly men with deep baritone voices that sing in unison about eerie supernatural things. Recorded in the span of a week, their third album ‘Hollow’ is their latest frenetic, foot stomping, country style offering.
The album kicks off with ‘Get the Gold’, the up strum of a guitar, a twangy banjo and some sombrely sung lines makes for a stripped back and resonating lead in. An instantaneous break to the dark clouds formed ahead brings lead release ‘I’m Gone’, embodying the foot stomping attitude expecting from the band. The most notable aspect of the tune is the drawn distant, fuzzy and sometimes screaming vocal of lead singer Nick Finch. Next track ‘The Sermon’ belongs in a country western in the best kind of way, a tale of drowning a hard life lived in drink and sorrow delivered with a cowboy accent.
‘The Priest’ sets off an immense skin crawling, spine shivering feeling in the melodic hum of steel guitars, snake rattle effects and the alternating textures of a low, gruff menacing voice mingling with a lighter harmonic one. ‘Then Doomsday Cult Blues’ has all the starkness and sharp sound of a Nick Cave creation, complete with vocals that carry the same character to a tee. ‘One Foot on the Grave’ is probably the punchiest track on the album, screeching unhinged vocals descend into entertaining lunatic like rambling, all matched with crashing cymbals, loud drums, rock riffage and what sounds like spurs hitting the pavement.
What I really enjoyed about this album and usually am a sucker for, was the array of various quirky instruments thrown into the mix. An added bonus, if you weren’t able to pick them all out, is the list cleverly displayed on the inner sleeve of the album. The combination of corrugated washboards, steel guitars, chains, hammers, banjos, cellos, organs, double basses and pretty much anything else available, makes for a sound that captures pretty succinctly that nineteenth century Old West bluegrass feel.
The band has a knack of really playing on the attitudes and imagery of the western era, not only in the music, but also in the descriptive and emotive lyrics. Along with the album’s artwork it there is a strong theme of death, fear, depression and a wavering kind of hopelessness that would have been reflected in society at the time. The style of music depicted in ‘Hollow’ could be a bit hit and miss amongst a wider audience and whilst there were some real highlights to the album, it tended to drag through some parts.
‘Hollow’ is a sincere portrayal of the strength of the human condition. Graveyard Train have taken a mesh of country, blues grass and rock and turned it into an album that draws you in and leaves you slightly shaken and wide eyed.
Nazia Hafiz
The album kicks off with ‘Get the Gold’, the up strum of a guitar, a twangy banjo and some sombrely sung lines makes for a stripped back and resonating lead in. An instantaneous break to the dark clouds formed ahead brings lead release ‘I’m Gone’, embodying the foot stomping attitude expecting from the band. The most notable aspect of the tune is the drawn distant, fuzzy and sometimes screaming vocal of lead singer Nick Finch. Next track ‘The Sermon’ belongs in a country western in the best kind of way, a tale of drowning a hard life lived in drink and sorrow delivered with a cowboy accent.
‘The Priest’ sets off an immense skin crawling, spine shivering feeling in the melodic hum of steel guitars, snake rattle effects and the alternating textures of a low, gruff menacing voice mingling with a lighter harmonic one. ‘Then Doomsday Cult Blues’ has all the starkness and sharp sound of a Nick Cave creation, complete with vocals that carry the same character to a tee. ‘One Foot on the Grave’ is probably the punchiest track on the album, screeching unhinged vocals descend into entertaining lunatic like rambling, all matched with crashing cymbals, loud drums, rock riffage and what sounds like spurs hitting the pavement.
What I really enjoyed about this album and usually am a sucker for, was the array of various quirky instruments thrown into the mix. An added bonus, if you weren’t able to pick them all out, is the list cleverly displayed on the inner sleeve of the album. The combination of corrugated washboards, steel guitars, chains, hammers, banjos, cellos, organs, double basses and pretty much anything else available, makes for a sound that captures pretty succinctly that nineteenth century Old West bluegrass feel.
The band has a knack of really playing on the attitudes and imagery of the western era, not only in the music, but also in the descriptive and emotive lyrics. Along with the album’s artwork it there is a strong theme of death, fear, depression and a wavering kind of hopelessness that would have been reflected in society at the time. The style of music depicted in ‘Hollow’ could be a bit hit and miss amongst a wider audience and whilst there were some real highlights to the album, it tended to drag through some parts.
‘Hollow’ is a sincere portrayal of the strength of the human condition. Graveyard Train have taken a mesh of country, blues grass and rock and turned it into an album that draws you in and leaves you slightly shaken and wide eyed.
Nazia Hafiz