Skanska Mord - Paths to Charon

  by Andrew Carver

published: 26 / 3 / 2013

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Review

Fans of the current 1970's retro rock explosion can add another band to their list of pick-me-ups: Sweden’s Skanska Mord are yet another Small Stone signee with a taste for the Nazareths and Atomic Roosters of old. There is also something of the Seattle psychedelic scene in ‘Paths To Charon’. Wah-wahing guitars (think Valis and Screaming Trees) open up the first track ‘Dark Caves of Our Mind’ on this sophomore record, while Jan Benggtson’s bluesy howl owes a bit to the vocal work of Alice in Chains' Layne Staley and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell. The band’s lyrics range from the traditional doom’n’gloom of metal’s pioneers, with tunes like the plodding ‘A Black Day’ making no bones about the terrible state of things, while ‘Lords of Space and Time’ and ‘Alien Encounter’ take the listener on excursions elsewhere. ‘Laggasen’ eases things back a bit for its intro, with some tootling keyboards parting briefly for some harder-edged guitar work. Folks with Graveyard, Horisont and Kadavar on their playlist should check them out.

Track Listing:-

1 Dark Caves Of Our Mind
2 Addicts
3 A Black Day
4 Lord Of Space And Time
5 The Flood
6 Laggasen
7 The Ambassadeur
8 Alien Encounter
9 Rising

Band Links:-

https://sv-se.facebook.com/skanskamord

Label Links:-

http://smallstone.com/
https://twitter.com/ssrecordings
https://www.facebook.com/smallstonerec
https://www.youtube.com/user/SmallSton
https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/