1. Intro/Anguished Sleep
2. Submerged in Vomit
3. Horrifying Nightmares of Flesh and Blood
4. I Want to Rot
5. The Painter of Agonies
6. Where Mortals Fear to Thread
7. Curse of the Red Moon
8. Worship Death in All its Forms
9. Suscipe Mortem
Comment:
1st album by this italian band formed by members from HAEMOPHAGUS, UNDEAD CREEP & CANCER SPREADING that plays an old fashioned Horror Death Metal in the tradition of bands like AUTOPSY, GRAVE, DEATH, CARCASS...
You want early 90’s death metal? Perhaps something reminiscent of DISMEMBER? DEATH or SLAYER, even? Perhaps a pinch of NAPALM DEATH? GRAVESITE is a pastiche of these bands – I have no doubt we can add more to the list. The essence though, is obviously old school late 80’s and early 90’s death metal. Death metal, amalgamative of its historical antecedents forming a death metal pastiche giving us the GRAVESITE verve we yearn for. I guess I am saying that the album can be thought of as a pummelling force of death metal brutality and darkly, creeping melodies.
Occasionally, you’ll run across some doomy riffs but there’s a lot of variation with the tempo. Sort of like a more hyper MORBID ANGEL. It seems to constantly change between fast and mid pace with an occasional slower part. The “Horrifying Nightmares” album is also not without its own original ideas. There are some solos but they are scarce. It’s chaotic force quivers the skin and fuels adrenaline. It sounds more modern.
“Horrifying Nightmares” makes a kind of comeback that is nothing new. And that is okay. It is nothing entirely original or unique. We get variety and a steady cadence and flow. The production is professional, clearly heard and slick, in spite of sounding rough and rusty. Okay, I used slick and rusty in the same sentence, appalling right? But I think with modern recording technologies providing “GRAVESITE” with that slick production sound while maintaining the dirty death metal sound is something that needs to be acknowledged. It engages in the old sound we liked, gives its take on death metal, proudly wearing the patches of its favourite sounds and influences; “Horrifying Nightmares” is a take it or leave it kind of deal.
Italy’s Gravesite may be a relatively new band in name, but not in spirit. The entity was forged from the remnants of Undead Creep, which formed in 2009 with a demo, EP, and full-length under their belt before calling it a day. David (Assumption, Haemophagus), bassist Claudio (Ancient Cult, Bland Vargar), and vocalist Gabri (Black Temple Below, Cancer Spreading), decided to move forward under a new name, as well as new guitarist, having picked up Gioele (Haemophagus, Repulsions) in place of Samantha (Saturnine). Under the new moniker, the four-piece issued their first demo, Obsessed by the Macabre, which was released later that year on cassette format through Iconoclast Records. Shortly after, the band started work on their debut full-length album, which is being handled by the legendary death metal label Xtreem Music. But is this “debut” outing one that could have used a little more maturity for this resurrection, or have Gravesite already come into their own?
Horrifying Nightmares… will sound like familiar territory for long-standing death metal veterans, or previous fans of the band in general. There’s no denying that the remnants of the previous formation still linger in its ranks, but there’s a little more essence of the likes of Cancer and Autopsy at work in their music this time around, as well as a little more of an analog sound compared to the only full-length issued under the Undead Creep name. The guitars are a little on the sharpened side, baring its fangs in an early Carcass output, while the crisp drums work to create infectious rhythms with the mild presence of the bass guitar, adding a little more bite to the eerie atmospheres the leads can sometimes create. The vocals also stand a little different, not quite being as deep and burdensome as they had been before the initial disbanding. Instead they have a vile touch to the harsh growls that only adds to the impact of the b-grade exploitive horror sensation that appears when the band isn’t indulging themselves in a hint of hardcore thanks to the random bouts of authoritative grooves that show from time to time.
For the most part, this effort is a high energy mixture of brutality and creepy melodies. “Intro – Anguished Sleep” sets the latter environment up quite well with a synth piece that could easily fit a b-movie from the sixties or seventies. About a minute in, the music slowly picks up, casting you into a borderline nightmarish world that only continues to grow more intense, bleeding into “Submerged in Vomit” through a held guitar note. The pace returns to as frantic as the prior’s conclusion, throwing the bass guitar pulses at you with the steady drums and eerie guitar work Autopsy fans will warmly embrace. There are some changes that occur and disrupt the timing, but this is handled either in a quick progressive manner, or a doom metal tone, the latter coming into play at just past two-and-a-half minutes in.
“I Want to Rot” is one of the few tracks that really does manage to break the mold for the most part. The group cites Death as an influence, which can be felt early on in the introduction, as well as starting at the three minute mark. What follows is more high energy metal that sounds like a sleeker modern day Swedish death metal assault with nods to Bolt Thrower and the like, all without a heavy digital overproduction. The burdensome churning of doom metal reappears once more about half way through for a short amount of time, crawling along with some additional technicality that moves into an impressive guitar solo before a hint of Exhumed-style goregrind kicks in to wrap things up with.
“Where Mortals Fear to Thread”, however, stands as one of the more epic offerings from the group. Things start with a progressive foothold, quickly shifting to a standard groove-heavy death metal cut that slowly picks up both speed and intensity. Like “Submerged in Vomit”, this is one of the few that rely quite a lot on the bass guitar’s output, bringing the pulse to the forefront in some segments to weave some burdening traits that only grow as you reach the half way mark, working with the drums to suffocate the listener as it pushes ever more through the tightly packed ground to freedom. This leads to a frantic exertion musically, as well as vocally, until the realization of being trapped in the dank darkness sets upon you with riffs that slow the adrenaline for a bit, giving it one more go shortly before it all caves in on you.
Horrifying Nightmares… acts as a testament for an era that has made its comeback in metal today, but often more as a carbon copy than anything all that original or unique. While this effort shows clear evidence of its influences, Gravesite are far from a band of pure hero worship. It’s clear the four-piece is putting a lot of effort into their music, offering up a good deal of variety throughout that all feels natural to the flow of the release (save a few oddball introductions towards the very end), and the joy they have playing the material is clearly heard in the album on every track. Using a number of b-movie scores to play up the horrific angle of the album’s dirty sounding music that is just the right blend of crisp, modern day technological abilities and gritty analog recording methods, Horrifying Nightmares… stands an enthusiastic slab of death metal fans of the gritty late eighties to early nineties days will find plenty of replay value in.
El disco ha sido grabado y mezclado en abril del presente año, por cuenta de Umberto “Umbe” Furlan, en sus instalaciones Black Sun Studio. Sin embargo, el proceso de masterizaciĂłn se ha realizado en el especĂfico recinto Wise Mastering. El resultado de ambos trabajos sĂłnicos se traduce en pura masa, graves y medios muy bien equilibrados y un ligero recorte de agudos que sin embargo deja entrever perfectamente los platos de la baterĂa, sin aparentemente restar de brillo al resto de instrumentos. Está bien enfocado y resulta un sĂłlido nĂşcleo de sonido actual pero con la gracia de la intenciĂłn Old School derivada de la captaciĂłn, lográndose una pegada plena y contundente, una plasta de huesos y cartonaje que vuela los sesos.
Tras el sucio y enfermizo toque impreso por el bajo de Claudio, “Horrifying Nightmares of Flesh And Blood” nos trae ecos de un “Suicide Machine” trastocado. Sin embargo, la enfermedad continúa propagándose en medios tiempos y blastings de vena CARCASS (y HAEMOPHAGUS), hasta desembocar en un salvaje tempo POSSESSED “Satan´s Curse” y su estela sucesora DEATH/PESTILENCE. Track endiablado y lleno de buenos cambios que implica un solazo de guitarra en toda regla, en la onda de los citados.
“I Want To Rot” parece evocar lejanamente a “Children of the Grave”, en primera instancia. El particular sonido de guitarra con efecto de modulaciĂłn inclusive (y que baña parte del disco) da paso a melodĂas SLAYER y ataques AUTOPSY/CARBONIZED, con un bajo que hace estallar los bafles. Mucho poso Sweden y medios tiempos intercalados, para un corte bien estructurado y que retoma el recurso introductorio para dar paso a nuevas partes tortuosas y ligeramente enrevesadas, en las que el toque Schuldiner aparece cual galletazo que rompe moldes del track, cerrando en onda Grind. Sin duda, esta es una de las canciones que elevan la bandera de GRAVESITE.
“Worship Death In All Its Forms” auna los pasajes blast de siempre con fuertes ataques de cuerda y ciertas amalgamas AUTOPSY, asĂ como puntualĂsimos dejes Death/Thrash y una leve secciĂłn de corte progresivo que precede a un buen y enrevesado solo, muriendo el corte con sabor CARCASS y dejando claro que estos se las saben todas, a la hora de tomar “prestado” pero sin copiar.
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