Grave - Dominion VIII
Posted on June 10, 2008 at 8:00 am by admin
After my re-introduction to metal, I started digging up the history of certain bands. One genre’s who’s historical path I traced was that of old-school European death metal, something which I really should’ve had more of during my childhood. Sure, I grew up on some Entombed, but who knows where I would’ve been today had I gotten my hands on Dismember, Unleashed, and Grave?
Well, I did my proper introductions to Dismember, I’m about to get one for Unleashed, and now it’s time for Graves turn. Grave it seems is the Suffocation of the Swedish old-school European death metal bands, with their strength on slow, grinding riffs as great big breakdowns. It’s surprising how well those big meaty hooks work in those mostly mid-paced to quick/mid-paced songs, as nothing really ever gets that fast.
“Dominion VIII” also finds itself trodden down in a morass of sludge sometimes (in a negative sense) due to the fact that the songs never do really go that fast to help differentiate the songs from one another, as all the tracks jump tempos, and never hit anything at all melodic to give you a breather. The production and playing are both on the raw side, with the mix heavy on the bass with not a lot of high end, making the action a bit difficult to hear. The concept of keeping the production just a slight bit raw, as well as the playing is actually a good one, conjuring images of the old-school underground in 90’s while holding in the bands overall experience.
Overall, just a slight bit n the trudging side.
Released June 10th, 2008
Grave at MySpace
Regain Records at MySpace
Buy this album at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
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