Greenleaf
Sun-drenched Swedish stoner rock with a heavy blues heart. Driving, fuzzy grooves that feel like a high-speed chase through a desert landscape.
Sun-drenched Swedish stoner rock with a heavy blues heart. Driving, fuzzy grooves that feel like a high-speed chase through a desert landscape.
Greenleaf delivers a masterclass in the 'desert rock' sound, despite their Swedish origins. Their music is defined by a massive, fuzzy low-end and a rhythmic swing that sets them apart from the more static, doom-leaning corners of the genre. It is music that feels physically heavy but remains remarkably agile, propelled by drumming that favors a groovy pocket over simple aggression.
What makes them distinctive is the interplay between Tommi Holappa’s signature guitar tone, which manages to be both crystalline and incredibly thick, and a revolving door of vocalists who bring a melodic, almost soulful sensibility to the heavy riffs. While many stoner bands get lost in the haze, Greenleaf stays focused on the song, utilizing classic rock structures and bluesy hooks to keep the listener anchored.
Start with 'Agents of Ahriman' to hear the band at their most iconic and collaborative. It captures the perfect balance of psychedelic exploration and hard-hitting rock and roll that has made them a cornerstone of the European heavy underground for over two decades.
Greenleaf is a Swedish rock band created as a side project in late 1999 by Tommi Holappa (Dozer), Daniel Lidén (Demon Cleaner) and Bengt Bäcke (record producer/studio engineer; Dozer, Demon Cleaner, Lowrider). In 2003, Lidén joined Dozer, making three of the four Dozers members also members of Greenleaf, so the band took a back seat until 2007. In 2018 Magnetic Eye Records released The Wall [Redux] album which was a recreation of Pink Floyd's 1979 double album The Wall recorded with different musicians on each track. Greenleaf contributed the single track, "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3 / Goodbye Cruel World" which combined the final two tracks from side two of the original album. In a statement shared with Ultimate Classic Rock, Magnetic Eye Records said, "The Wall [Redux] isn't a tribute album, but a powerful musical statement that's certainly appropriate at a cultural moment when the themes of separatism, alienation and divisiveness set forth by Roger Waters and company are more relevant than ever."
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); energetic, defiant, restless (moods)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); energetic, defiant, restless (moods)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); analog warmth, live recording, wall of sound (production style)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); energetic, defiant, brooding (moods)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); brooding, energetic, restless (moods)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); analog warmth, live recording, wall of sound (production style)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); energetic, defiant, restless (moods)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); analog warmth, live recording, wall of sound (production style)
Shares stoner rock, hard rock, psychedelic rock (subgenres); intense, raspy, belting (vocal style)
Shares stoner rock, desert, blues rock, wall of sound (signature)
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