Euphoria

Enough re-releases of obscure demi-psych/blues heavy riffage/proto-metal wailing have surfaced in recent years that one could be forgiven for thinking Sweden's Dead Man were one such act. But they're recent, and pretty good — if Euphoria worships the past to a complete and total degree, there are worse things to excavate (and it helps that drummer Marcus Allard, if hardly Clyde Stubblefield, conjures up a good bit of shuffling funk in his performances throughout). Moments like the country guitar twang on "I Must Be Blind" — not quite a Band number but pretty close to the territory — and the lengthy multi-part "The Wheel" add variety to the album, even if of a similarly familiar and well-explored sort. But while Dead Man will win no awards for sounding like they're in a new millennium different from the one they especially love, Euphoria's a pleasant listen at worst and a fun one at best — no bad thing to be.