Dead Man
Euphoria
(Crusher)
By Will York
The second album by Swedish quartet Dead Man, **Euphoria,** is an unapologetic throwback to the turn of the 1970s - specifically, the transition from ‘60s folk- and psyche-rock to the more sinister hard-rock and proto-metal sounds that would follow. Most of the album is poised right on that brink, and its 11 songs bring to mind everything from early Pink Floyd and Donovan (in his more tolerable moments) to Peter Frampton-era Humble Pie to the softer side of Led Zep or Black Sabbath (think “Planet Caravan”). Impressively, they do so without making me feel like I need to check myself into rehab.
Yes, you can almost smell your burnout uncle’s musty LP collection while listening to this disc, but the songwriting and arrangements are really well done, and the headphone-ready production captures it all with a warmth that’s increasingly rare in this era of Pro Tools.
Highlights include the chipper, Celtic-tinged “I Must Be Blind” and the darker “High or Low,” which recalls Sabbath worshippers Pentagram. There are a couple of eight-minute odysseys that veer into prog- or jazz-rock territory - without going fully off the deep end - as well as a few flute sightings and even some nice mandolin and violin work.
This band covers a lot of bases, but they do so without sounding like pastiche artists or smug record collectors. Best of all, they capture the sense of possibility and exploration that marked the best music from this era - occasional iffy taste be damned - rather than merely churning out a slick caricature of it.
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