Monday, July 26, 2010

Grave (Sweden): Burial Ground

Grave (Sweden): Burial Ground (Regain Records)“Liberation” (3:41) with its upfront (but not blasting; Grave is not a blasting band) illustrates the traditional death metal sound where heaviness matters. “Semblance in Black” (4:22) concentrates, after an uptempo start, on a midpaced doom feel, with substantially slowed down buzzsaw riffs. “Dismembered Mind” (6:11) shows that doom aspect, and some melody, then the energy level picks up for the “old school death metal brutality.” With “Ridden with Belief” (4:20), it’s clear it’s the midpaced, simple, guttural heaviness that’s Grave’s focus. Then, they speed up to the simple, to-the-point sound. “Conquerer” (4:46): Grave’s “brutality” is very moshable, and coincidentally, sounds perfect for the “breakdown-brutality” people who love heaviness with a groove. This song is total midpaced heaviness. “Outcast” (3:41) brings up the pace back up, and the buzzsaw guitar tone crackles with heaviness and the vocals remain total low-gruff. There is no attempt to vary the guttural vocals for one second. “Sexual Mutilation” (4:04) shows a similar aggressive-uptempo energy as “Outcast” and “Bloodtrail” (4:05) has some guitar solo work that stands out. “Burial Ground” (7:30) is a total doom death exercise, where the riff goes slow, the drums go slow (with faster-paced double bass), the growling takes its time with the enunciation of the words. Slow motion are the sounds of this track.
Unpolished, just loaded down with death, and often, slow death that’s all about the heaviness of Grave.


www.myspace.com/gravespace
www.regainrecords.com