excerpts from StonerRock.com review forum:
In the immortal words of the Continental, wowee wow wow! This album is smokin from start to finish!
Heavy duty on the classic rock, this totally sounds like it could've come from a band born in the late 60s or early 70s.
Things kick off with a 55 second trippy little intro .... then whamo!... a straight up ass-kicking rocker, 10,000 Years of Revolution,
that probably won't surprise you too much if you've been a fan of Dozer. The next 3 tracks follow pretty much the same forumula,
meaning mostly that they're rocking songs without too many frills. Fredrik's vocals seem to follow a lot of the same patterns as
the stuff he does in Dozer, but the music has a more classic rock vibe to it.
Track 4, Never Right, comes on with a guy I swear could be a dead ringer for Paul Stanely. I'm not sure if this is still Fredrik singing.
The liner notes say there are guest singers... it might be a guy named Singe singing. Not sure.
Then, things start to twist and turn. Track 5, the Combination, comes on and we start diving into the world of organs and spacey
guitar effects. This is a slow, groovey number heavy on the fx. Man! I'm really lovin this album now! The songs are starting to get me
into a trance.
Instrumental track 6, the Spectre, starts off with more upbeat rocking, then kind of weaves in and out of these funky, trippy, echoey
wha-wha parts. Great stuff, short song, but perfect!
Track 7, One More Year.... back again into the slow, trippy stuff. The opening riff is really dark, almost doomy. Vocals have that
"coming out of a dark tunnel" effect. Another short, but sweet song.
Shit... I don't have time to write about every song. There are 3 more and I gotta split. I'll just say that the 2nd half of this album,
starting from track 5 seems really different that the start.... way more trippy, more fx. It almost seems like they started the album,
then decided to go in a totatlly different direction. But what do I know? Either way, this thing is fucking great. Take a shot of whiskey
for the first few tracks and bang your head. Then smoke a bowl and sink into the couch for the rest of it.
// koi
This album is absolutely the best of the year in the stoner-rock category. Hands down. Solace "13" is a distant runner-up.
From beginning to end, this album is as good or better than "Revolution Rock" and that album is one of the best I've ever heard.
About the same caliber as Dozer's "Madre De Dios". Along with their standard singer, they have a new one who alternates and
he sounds like a new and fresh Dave Wyndorf (Monster Magnet), and I look forward to hearing more from him. Just like "Earth Yeti"
on Dozer's Madre de Dios, Greenleaf does another similarly styled track called "The Spectre". What I mean to say is, that the song
"Earth Yeti" actually SOUNDS like a giant sasquatch crashing through the woods, "The Spectre" actually SOUNDS like a ghost madly
gliding through the dark halls of a haunted mansion. This whole album outstanding....new guitar effects used by Tommi sound great,
new chord progressions only ADD to their already awesome 70's sound.....I continually ask Tommi when they're coming to America
on a Greenleaf/Dozer tour, and it's just a matter of $$ and time....they're coming...don't worry. Someday....someday......
// juggernatrix
This album bends time, for me.
What I mean is, every time I get to the couple seconds of silence on the last [or, second-to-last] track, I say, "damn! That was
40 minutes already?" I swear, this is the quickest movement of time I've ever experienced without drugs. (This weekend, I think
I'll try it WITH drugs.) It's basically like the best stuff from their first one, except it's a whole album's worth. I really dig the distinct
tone they get with the guitars, too (just like their first). Although, I think Fred has one of the best voices around, the other guy pulls
off some good stuff, too. Highly recommended! Play it loud and on 'repeat'.
// ron
In 'Soul Kitchen,' Jim Morrison said something like this:
"Your fingers weave quick minarettes
Speak in secret alphabets
I light another cigarette
Learn to forget"
That may not be perfect, but you get the idea. Hey, I'm working from memory here! In any case, you get the "secret alphabets"
reference, right? Its, like, druggy and weird. I don't know if Greenleaf was thinking about this or not when they titled their new album,
but somehow I think it fits.
Greenleaf is the seldom gigging but hard working collaboration composed of members of two of Sweden's stoner elite bands,
namely Dozer and the late, lamented Demon Cleaner. This time Greenleaf is augmented by vocalist Singe and Lowrider's
Peder Bergstrand. Let's make no bones about it: this is killer rock and roll. Straightforward, no-nonsense rawk, mixed with
the finest of psychedelic ingredients. A little pot here, some early Zep there, a bit of acid, essence of classic rock, a pinch of Kiss,
and for spice lets thrown in some of Randy Bachman's 'fro. Yeah, BTO, that's what I'm talking about. And don't forget Dozer,
Lowrider, and Demon Cleaner for that contemporary feel.
The album seems to come in two sections, with the more straightforward rockers up front, separated from the rest of the album
by the killer spacey, groovy, middle-eastern-tinged 'The Combination.' After that things get weird(er), culminating in the BTO-ish
'No Time Like Right Now!" You're moving down the highway now, and there's definitely an illegal grin on your face. Dozer main man
Tommi Holappa and crew deserve to be congratulated for another fine effort. They've provided us with so many of them that
Sweden's government should give them some kind of medal on general principals. Either that, or pay for a trip to the States.
// Kevin McHugh