Gravehill

Old school death metal band Gravehill (California, U.S.) will be touring (see the dates below) and they also have made some personnel changes to the band. Longtime vocalist Mike Abominator is no longer the growler, and now Corpse is, who was the band's bassist. Thus, the vocalist change was made from inside the house.

GRAVEHILL 2015:

Corpse - lead growling

Hell Messiah - lead guitarring

Thorgrimm- lead drummering

Bodybag Bob - lead bassering

Eldehelm - lead guitarring

Who is Gravehill?

"GRAVEHILL was spawned to bring back the olden way of death metal. Originally formed in 2001 as a three piece and within the same year recorded "The Practitioners of Fell Sorcery” demo. This demo began as a limited run cassette tape then later fell into the hands of The Funeral Agency in 2004. As of 2011 this has been released on 12" Vinyl through A389 Records (www.a389records.com), and as quickly as it began, the original line-up disbanded soon after the debut demo.

In 2006 GRAVEHILL reformed with original drummer and founder Rhett "THORGRIMM" Davis and vocalist, Mike Abominator. Over the course of 2007-2009 GRAVEHILL released 2 CDs with ENUCLEATION Records… the “Metal of Death” / “The Advocation of Murder and Suicide” CD/EP and the “RITES OF THE PENTAGRAM” CD. Soon after the RotP CD release with ENUCLEATION Records, the label folded. Leaving both releases free they were later given to IBEX MOON Records (www.Ibexmoonrecords.com) for a combined release of “Metal of Death / Advocation & Rites of the Pentagram” CDs adding a live DVD to the package as well.

By the summer of 2010 GRAVEHILL toured the U.S., added a new guitarist Matt “Hellfiend” Harvey (EXHUMED, DEKAPITATOR, GRUESOME) to the line-up and by 2011 played the 9th annual Maryland Death Fest supporting their sophomore record “When All Roads lead to Hell” CD with DARK DESCENT Records (www.darkdescentrecords.com). By the end of 2011, GRAVEHILL had wrapped up a west coast tour with IMPIETY and later released a CHAOS Records (www.chaos-records.com) version of "When All Roads Lead to Hell” on both black and bronze 12” vinyl.

2012 began with a line-up change, by adding two new full-time guitarists known only as CC DeKill and Hell Messiah to replace Matt Hellfiend and Bodybag Bob due to their momentous touring schedule for EXHUMED. These new guitarists were instrumental in writing and recording GRAVEHILL's third full length album "Death Curse" (released through Dark Descent Records in 2014) as well as numerous live performances.

Early in 2015, GRAVEHILL saw two great members move on to other things. CC DeKill (one of the best lead guitarists of all time) and the indomitable Mike Abominator parted ways with GRAVEHILL to pursue other activities. They are, and always will be part of the GRAVEHILL family and we wish them nothing but luck in their future endeavors.

The death metal rampage continues forward with great momentum as we welcome back into the fold as our new bass player, Bodybag Bob and the killer lead guitars of Eldehelm. As Corpse settles into his role of frontman, Thorgrimm continues to pound out ravaging beats, and Hell Messiah continues to shred and devastate us with badass riffs expect more live shows, splits, and gruesome adventures in the future. KILL!! 666!!"

"Dates and links to the events are below for the Gravehill and Ghoulgotha tour coming up next week. We're attempting to boost this post and FB hates our pictures so this is just text. Check out the event links below for a location near you. Let's party!" 8/5 - Dallas TX - Reno's Chop Shop

8/6 - Austin TX - Red Eyed Fly

8/7 - San Antonio TX - Korova

8/8 - Houston TX - The Shop

8/9 - New Orleans LA - Siberia

8/10 - Atlanta GA - 529

8/11 - Hyattsville MD - Schizophrenia Hall

8/12 - Brooklyn NY - St. Vitus

8/13 - Pittsburgh PA - Smilin' Moose

8/14 - Chicago IL - Cobra Lounge

8/15 - Denver CO - Wolves of the Apocalypse V Fest / Summit Music Hall

8/16 - Salt Lake City - Club X

This is Metal Bulletin Zine's review of the most recent Gravehill album, if you missed it. This album is from 2014, still with Mike on vocals.

Gravehill: Death Curse (Dark Descent Records)

The way that I like to think of crud death metallers Gravehill is a bunch of old California thrashers who grew up on Metallica, Exodus and Slayer and all those bands, but with the heaviness and vocals of death metal. I hear a whole lot of psychopath Paul Baloff-era Exodus in the music of Gravehill. It is also possible that I am a wingnut, but my ears are telling me that the album “Bonded by Blood” is in the DNA of this band, or at least, in the fundamentals of this new album “Death Curse.” First of all, the vocalist Mike “I’m not ok” Abominator channels the spirit of dirtnapper Paul Baloff in several ways: screwloose and a bit too much like a real-life deviant-psycho. He sounds as if he has eaten the microphone and is gurgling the mic in his throat. What does this man have in his throat, a frog, broken glass? He growls from the belly and it sounds like it.

There is a lot of old heavy metal and thrash in those guitar solos. The tone is death metal, the first impression is death metal, the vibe is death metal, but the result is a death metal that is very ear-friendly, thrashy, classic-style. Gravehill sounds like those old slimeball bands that sounded like death, thrash and black all rolled into one in the 80s. Mainly, if you wreck your neck to old, classic metal in the death/thrash/black continuum, whether Bay Area/California thrash, German and Brazilian chaotic thrash/death, this should appeal to you in the low-life Gravehill style. This is too loud for the crowd, and I almost can’t stand it myself, but all my snakes in the kitchen like it so much, oh, well, let Gravehill show you the metal they got.

www.facebook.com/gravehill

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Gravehill - Fear the Reaper

Gravehill - Death Curse