Oh shock, horror – a Swedish band influenced by 70s stuff. Whatever next? The Graviators sound like Pentagram, you may have seen them on tour with Saint Vitus and this, their second album, is available on orange vinyl, obviously.
They owe a lot to Black Sabbath, too (but then, who doesn’t?), have a song called Back To The Sabbath and others with names like Morning Star and Soulstealer. If this is all starting to sound a little bit predictable, it’s because it is, although full marks to the guys for effort; as heard-it-all-before pastiches go, Evil Deeds is evilly well-executed, right down to Niklas Sjöberg’s haunted, howling vocals and Martin Fairbanks’ gravy-thick guitar.
And unlike most retro outfits, these guys bolster their past-times homage with some serious bottom end, a bass-heavy rumble that Sabbath or Pentagram or any of them would gladly have sold their souls for back in the day. We don’t really need yet another slightly heavier version of Witchcraft or Graveyard, but like the Tribbles in Star Trek, they just keep popping.
