Greenleaf – Revolution Rock Deluxe

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · May 1, 2025

Blues Funeral Recordings repressed and re-released Greenleaf’s acclaimed debut album Revolution Rock with their Self Titled debut EP together. Aptly titled Revolution Rock Deluxe, the album contains fifteen tracks that span just over an hour. The press release on Greenleaf’s Bandcamp page states: “Featuring members of Dozer, Lowrider, Demon Cleaner and more, Greenleaf’s first album Revolution Rock was self-released in 2001 and never widely distributed nor repressed since its original 500-copy run. The new Revolution Rock Deluxe combines that landmark album with Greenleaf’s long out-of-print 2000 debut EP onto a single stunning edition, with all songs fully remastered by Karl Daniel Lidén and the original art and design brilliantly refreshed and updated by Lowrider’s Peder Bergstrand.” The lineup on this release consists of: Tommi Holappa on guitars and bass, Jocke Åslund on hammond organ, Bengt Bäcke on bass and keys, Peder Bergstrand on vocals, guitar, bass, Daniel Lidén on drums, percussion, and Fredrik Nordin on vocals. Revolution Rock Deluxe was released on March 28th 2025.

Greenleaf has been one of my favorite bands since I discovered them via stoner rock dot com website back in the early 2000’s. Revolution Rock and Secret Alphabets were out and I remember buying them both on CD at the same time. I was a fan from that point on and followed their career and trajectory ever since. It’s hard to believe that Greenleaf started as a side project for whenever Dozer was dormant. The band have never released a bad record or anything even close! To hear the remastered version of Revolution Rock and the original EP together on this 2025 Revolution Rock Deluxe is fantastic.

“Vat 69” starts off Revolution Rock with a great blast of seventies inspired riff rock matched with soaring guitars and all out frenzied drumming. The sound is very gratifying and features powerful vocals from Dozer’s Fredrik Nordin. The heavy crash drumming and magnificent rolls and fills from Daniel Lidén are excellent. Guitar wizard Tommi Holappa is in his element with these songs that are more rock induced than Dozer. There is something very appealing about these songs that really connected with me, over two decades ago! “Devil Woman” is a heavy and catchy rocker that continues the drive that fuzzy groove that “Vat 69” started. The amazing guitar leads to begin the song that implodes into a heavy driven rock anthem, is terrific. The bass guitar sounds massive on this recording and “Devil Woman” gives us a nice bass break from longtime member, Bengt Bäcke. The addition of the hammond organ from Jocke Åslund, is also fantastic. The layered keys are magical on this whole album and have been a staple on other Greenleaf records too. They really add a brilliant dynamic to “Devil Woman”, utilized as both a textured sound wall in the background of the guitars and a lead instrument on certain parts of the song. The third track “Status: Hallucinogenic, Phase II” takes the music to a spacey and psychedelic place where the sounds are atmospheric and all instrumental. The four count cowbell start to “You Got Me High” and pounding accents cranks right into an intoxicating heavy rock groove, It is very catchy! The music has equal parts of hard fuzzy riffing and righteous rocking leads. Nordin’s vocals are soaring with the rhythm and the chorus has a distinct hook that sucks you in.

“Red Tab” barrels right in and makes for an excellent mid paced rager. The guitar accelerating leads on this one are excellent. The song has a very cool break down of the gonzo drumming taking over for a couple of measures too. Greenleaf were on fire with a lot of these earlier songs. “The Shipbuillder” is another trippy and rocking instrumental that has a blanket of ambiance wrapped around it. The guitar riffs and leads are blazing through on this one too but the heavy psych keeps it grounded. “Electric Ryder” is a high octane instrumental rocker that flows nicely throughout. The guitar playing is grandiose, as is the insane drumming, with all the different fills plastered across the song. Greenleaf has a great blend of utilizing sound pacing with these songs. The mix of vocal tracks and instrumental music is clever combining the uptempo rockers with the more slower psychedelic tracks. “Hexagram” is a more unhurried plodding song that has vocals on it. It dials up the rock more towards the end but for the most part, it remains deliberate. The last track on the Revolution Rock portion of the record is called “Monostereowhatever”. It’s a keyboard and synth enhanced instrumental that closes out the initial release.

Track ten starts the Greenleaf 10” EP songs with “Get Your Love Outta Here”. Peder Bergstrand from Lowrider was the original vocalist and sings on all of these tracks, I believe. The music is somewhat similar to Revolution Rock with big guitar sounding riffs and bombastic drumming throughout. The funny “Sold My Lady (Out the Back of An Oldsmobile)” is next, and it also rips! The rock staple beat and simple structure of this track works out perfectly. The freak out hard psych midpoint is a cool flavor to the song and mixes things up nicely. “Kvinna Du Ger Mig Ingen Kärlek” is another cool song that is in the band’s native Swedish language. It sounds like they are saying something about the late great Bon Scott from AC/DC. The next track, “Smell The Green” is another good one. The hard rock groove is prominent on this one and there’s some weird vocal parts that ring in more psych. “Land Of Lincoln” is a beautiful stripped down number that has a raw bluesy swagger to it. The sound has more vintage rock infused with ageless tones that never get old. The band totally rock out on this one and construct such interesting jams. Sometimes I forget how freaking good Greenleaf was in their original form. How loose and unconfined their songs are and the amazing music that they produce. The final track on the record is the bizarre and spacy “Status: Hallucinogenic”. This band was an evolutionary amazement from these early songs. Their sound has changed with each album and vocalist involved (From Peder Bergstrand, Fredrik Nordin, Oskar Cedermalm (from Truckfighters), and Arvid Hallagard.) I am a super fan of all of the incarnations of the band. Each band member involved speaks an important voice, using their instruments as a soundscape that really connects with me personally. Their current lineup, fronted by Arvid Hallagard, is Tommi Holapp on guitars, Hans Frohlich on bass, and Sebastian Olsson on drums.

Being the twenty fifth anniversary of these classic songs, I would be willing to bet that the band will be playing a few of these live, if they haven’t already. I am really taking a back about how incredible and influential Greenleaf’s music has impacted me. I truly love all of it and they were my number one favorite album of 2024 with, The Head And The Habit (review here). The best part about their music is that it never grows old on me. All of the songs featured on Revolution Rock Deluxe are important to me and have a very deep meaning. I can listen to these songs forever and appreciate them for what they mean to me. As long as Greenleaf are releasing records, I will always support them! Every incantation of Greenleaf has resulted in gold. They are one of my absolute favorite current bands and Revolution Rock Deluxe is the audio apex for when the band was formed and is a must have.