Graveyard: "Goliath"

It's fitting, really: the reunited Witchcraft signed to Nuclear Blast for their latest, Legend, which is where fellow Swedes Graveyard landed for last year's breakthrough album, Hisingen Blues. Both bands are among the elite at what they do, which is basically a souped up 70's blues metal that studiously ignores any influences from the last 30 years. Whereas Witchcraft like to throw a little folkiness in the mix, though, Graveyard just wants to boogie.

Lights Out will be released October 26 on Nuclear Blast, with the "Goliath" single already out and sporting a non-LP b-side, "Leaving You".

Witchcraft: "It's Not Because of You"

If "It's Not Because of You" is any indication, Witchcraft have gone light years beyond their early Sabbath / Sir Lord Baltimore worship and are now right in the thick of Queens of the Stone Age / Jack White solo turf. A bluesy yet melancholy strut underpins the jam friendly riffing, Magnus Pelander's soulful vocals eschewing heavy metal conventions altogether for something more egalitarian, more rock.

Legend is out September 25 on Nuclear Blast. In the meantime head over to Metal Injection for my roundup  of Metal Blade's recent reissue campaign.

Municipal Waste: "You're Cut Off"

We all know the three words men are reluctant to utter. But the three words we fear hearing the most are "you're cut off" (or as my local bartender more ominously puts it: "I'm gonna keep you where you're at"). Municipal Waste illustrate - literally - the consequences of making such a line-in-the-sand pronouncement. Fuck yeah.

Christian Mistress: "Pentagram and Crucifix"

Christian Mistress have catapulted right up there with Pentagram and St Vitus among the elite 70s-obsessed metal throwback bands. Possession is their second album and a quantum leap over their already-promising debut. There's a nice early 80s Metal Massacre comp vibe to "Pentagram and Crucifix" which takes me back a bit.