GRAVE – Burial Ground CD review

GRAVE – Burial Ground CD
Regain Records

Just like their fellow countrymen, UNLEASHED, this Swedish death metal institution will never do wrong in my book although I can honestly say their better days are long gone. I don’t expect to be bouncing of the walls again with loaded 44 magnums in hands firing widely while listening to their classic Into the Grave release. I’ll never forget that mess plus I lost my deposit when I moved out of the apartment. Ok I was kicked out after that incident but what do you expect when you’re “wired by the smell of death”. In all honestly GRAVE were pretty dead to me after Hating Life in 1996 and I didn’t get back into them until a decade later with As Rapture Comes. Since then I’ve hung in there corner, picked up missed releases and thought their 2008 CD, plus first on Regain Records, Dominion VIII was damm good.

Burial Ground finds Ola Lindgren returning with the same line-up from Dominion VIII albeit soundwise they’ve turned the notch down to a dirtier setting. As always it’s that bass heavy production and buzzsaw guitar sound which always reminds me why I never got into the more melodic death metal sound from the later Swedish bands. Although nowadays I’m slightly calmer when listening to old school death metal as far as physically but mentally it’s another story. “Liberation” opens this dink and it gives me reason to grin devilishly plus have my head bang a little. Hey it’s been eighteen years since the day I first got into them but once the opening cut is done and “Semblance in Black” takes hold it’s like partying with an old friend. “Dismembered Mind” brings back memories of old and you tell yourself hell I’ve still got plenty of decent days ahead.

One thing I find cool about present day GRAVE is how they’ve been re-recording songs from their demo days. On here they redo “Sexual Mutilation” which is like icing on the cake. Another surprise is hearing Karl Sanders from NILE knock out a solo on the song “Bloodthral”. Overall the rest of Burial Ground is riff friendly heavy on the psyche DM which might not win over any newbies but old schoolers like myself see this as a reminder of ourselves. We’re bloodied and unwilling to change. That’s why someone half my age will listen to this and think it’s slow and the vocals are distinguishable which for them means crap. But for me and anyone out there who still gets off listening to bands like GRAVE as well as UNLEASHED, ASPHYX, ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER and BOLT THROWER, well it might not be the early nineties but we’re not ready for the dirtnap.

www.regainrecords.com