Gravehuffer – Depart From So Much Evil
Gravehuffer – Depart From So Much Evil
Black Doomba Records
Release Date: 17/02/2023
Running Time: 38:44
Review by Rory Bentley
8.5/10
The early January nostalgia-fest is over for my reviews, it was a blast reliving my early twenties, but now it’s time to get back to some brand-new filth with the mighty Gravehuffer’s latest record “Depart From So Much Evil”. Despite the schlocky band name, the music here is no joke whatsoever and what we have here is a delicious smorgasbord of the nastiest Grindcore, Crustpunk, Death and Post-Metal amongst many other subgenres melded into a thrilling release bursting with ideas yet underpinned by excellent compositional ability.
‘Blueprint For An Early Grave’ offers the kind of grimy guitar tone and savage D-beat onslaught that Shane Embury would be proud of as the vocals spit anti-capitalist bile like peak Barney Greenway. The bottom string of that guitar is so disgustingly bouncy and groovy it should come with hand sanitiser. Brilliant! Somehow ‘Slayberry’ ups the ante even further with a truly vile Crust-Punk onslaught and some of the most gleefully ugly goblin-like shrieks you’ll hear on an extreme record all year. By this point the immaculate mix and production job had smacked me round my flabby chops and I couldn’t help but applaud the perfect balance between everything sounding crisp enough to hear every detail while still being caked in grime. The Lumbering Stoner riff that spearheads the latter portion of the song is particularly gnarly, feeling like the sonic equivalent of wading through a particularly funky swamp.
‘The Criptid and the Iron Bird’ is where the band truly spread their wings, acting as a miniature epic that gets so much done within its sub six-minute runtime. Starting off with Black Metal-tinged Punk and some impressive harsh vocal dexterity that hits you from all angles the song then shifts into devastating cinematic Post-Metal and ominous chanting. After that we get full face-ripping Black Metal with an almost Hendrix-like solo slotted in that inexplicably fits perfectly. Three songs in and man needs a lie down!
The acoustic intro and dreamy psychedelic Sludge of ‘Brainstorm’ arrives at just the right time for my scrambled brain. It’s still heavier than a concrete hippo, but there’s a more mellow, kind of wistful feel like Thou at their most contemplative. Of course, this pleasant state doesn’t last as the perfectly titled ‘Go Murder Pray and Die’ is immediately on hand with unfiltered, distilled, hateful Grindcore with a frankly putrid bass tone. But somehow these five masterful slabs of extremity are just the appetiser to the main event.
Who had money on a twenty-two-minute closing track based around Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”? Cos I sure as fuck didn’t. If you also told me the same band that were sanding my face off like peak Pig Destroyer merely seconds ago were going to bring in a sweeping string section along with delicate chords to begin this Metallic odyssey, I’d probably ask you if everything was alright at home!
Despite a slight loss of momentum in a more ambient noise section in the middle of the piece, the song sticks its landing near flawlessly. The oppressive Industrial smog of Godflesh makes a heavy mark towards the latter half of the song, with some creepy Goth crooning showing further versatility, before shifting to nightmarish Art Rock with manic Jazz inflected drumming that brings to mind The Birthday Party. After that Gravehuffer have the brass balls to close things out with the return of the beautiful string section and some heavenly soprano vocals. You’re just taking the piss now lads.
This album embodies everything underground Extreme music should be – experimental and challenging, but with a clear compositional finesse that keeps you coming back for more.
‘Blueprint For An Early Grave’ Official Music Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Blueprint For An Early Grave
02. Slayberry
03. The Cryptid And The Iron Bird
04. Brainstorm
05. Go Murder Pray And Die
06. Depart From So Much Evil
LINE-UP:
Travis Mckenzie – Vocals
Mike Jilge – Bass
Ritchie Randall – Guitars
Todd Morrison – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
