*. The Crystal Caravan .*

Album: With Them You Walk Alone (2013)
Genre: Hard Rock (Psych./Prog Rock)  /  Sweden

In the spring of 2013 The Crystal Caravan are planning their third release, With Them You Walk Alone. Right from day one, the band decides to, for the first time, just do it all themselves. With a certain amount of hybris given the band's guitarist and founders, Björn Lohmander and Stefan Bränberg, the responsibility as a sound engineers, producers and the mixing of the album. The level of ambition is higher than ever and the time to finalize the album is set by a good margin. Unlike the jammed and live recorded predecessor, Against the Rising Tide, the idea is to take the arrangements to a new level. During the work of With Them You Walk Alone, the band has gone from being a seven-piece band into a six-piece with a more distinct and a more guitar-based sound. A greater emphasis has also been placed on the work of mixing and soundscapes created by analog synthesizers, tape echoes and Leslie cabinets. To go the whole hog and do not repeat themselves have been symptomatic of how With Them You Walk Alone has been developed. And even if they decide to do it all yourself, they cannot help, in the true spirit of Umeå, to take the help of the amazing Lina Högstrom (Skator). Highly recommended for friends of URIAH HEEP, STEPPENWOLF, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, but also acts like TSOOL and THE DOORS. (www.recordheaven.net.)

RATING:  7.75 / 10

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