One of Sweden’s most active and productive guys for sure is Rogga Johansson, known from countless bands and projects; the list is too long, and just to mention some of them would be insulting for those I am not about to mention. This time he teams up with Mika Lagrén (of Facebreaker- and Grave-fame) and Jocke Ringdahl (think Genital Grinder, Sinners Burn or Paganizer – the latter probably being the most notorious act Rogga is part of). They are joined under the Graveyard After Graveyard banner, and what the trio brings under this moniker is quite surprising. The three of them are known for their Death Metal roots especially, so I think it is sort of refreshing to notice that Graveyard After Graveyard are not ‘just another’ Death Metal outfit once again.
Actually, this EP, consisting of six titles that clock nineteen minutes, is a timelessly-sounding symbiosis of elements from the most brutal sides of Black, Thrash, Death and Heavy Metal. I used the description ‘timeless’, but actually all of this stuff is heavily rooted in the Old School, with a focus, of course, on the (Swedish) eighties-scene. Of course it lacks of originality, but do you care? I do not either!
Most pieces are quite fast and furious, including a hammering groove, but a track like Learn To Burn, for example, is much slower and quite obscure, rather than nasty and naughty. Also the outro, Feeding Of The Hellhounds, is distinctive, for it isn’t but a mechanic and industrialised noise. And that (I am referring to the relative variation in both tempo and song writing), besides the sonic approach we’re usually not used to hear from these guys, makes Hellhound On My Trail a remarkably strong effort.