GRAVE

After 6 years of recording silence, ‘Burial Ground’ marks the return of one of the original pioneers of Swedish death metal, Grave. With their classic 1994 album ‘Soulless’ being the last release of theirs I had given the time of day to I was curious, to say the least, as to what they sounded like now and, to be honest, it makes a pleasant change for once to listen to a band that are clearly leaders in their genre and still have the ability to stick to the classic Swedish-style death metal they do so well, especially with so many Swedish bands having morphed away from their original extreme metal roots. Despite, on first listen, thinking I’d been transported back to my teenage death metal years, and not being entirely sure as to whether it was re-hashed and out-dated, on second and subsequent listens it makes for a heftily nostalgic listen. Whilst not having any particularly standout tracks (there is no “Turning Black”- haha - or “Soulless”), this is a well written album, with everything you’d expect from such a release; massively downtuned, brutal distorted riffs with widdly screaming solos over the top and guttural growled vocals. Its only real negative points are that, whilst it is ‘classic’ in its production style, the drums do get lost in the mix in certain places and, occasionally, you end up turning the bass down on your hi-fi/iPod as it distorts way too much, and perhaps it could have done with a bit more variety – 5 out of the 9 tracks start with the same downtuned B chord for example. That aside, if you fancy a bit of nostalgia and rediscovering some old-school classic death metal, it’s one to get.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Regain Records

Album

BURIAL GROUND

Review by Hannah Sylvester

RUNNING TIME:

42:42

RELEASE DATE:

14th June 2010

TRACK LISTING

1) Liberation
2) Semblance in Black
3) Dismembered Mind
4) Ridden With Belief
5) Conquerer
6) Outcast
7) Sexual Mutilation
8) Bloodtrail
9) Burial Ground

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Sweden

"... it makes a pleasant change for once to listen to a band that are clearly leaders in their genre and still have the ability to stick to the classic Swedish-style death metal they do so well..."