GRAVE - Morbid Ascent LP (Ultra Clear Vinyl)

100 copies limited.

Trends come and trends go. Grave remains. Why? Because they've never sacrificed one iota of integrity in their pursuit of death metal excellence. Their vision never wavered (even during their death-n-roll flirtation) and their constancy is what has made them both revered and underrated. Since reactivating in 2002, they've given us exactly what we've come to expect from them: pulverizing Swedish death with lots of crushing grooves and old-school morbid atmosphere. This EP delivers just that, dropping huge dive bombs of thrashy buzzsaw guitar riffs and hard driving d-beats with the occasional morbid breakdown and Ola's hoarse throaty roar. Both "Venial Sin" and "Morbid Ascent" gallop away in classic Grave fashion, though the later adds the epic twist of majestic horns, ramping up the compositional detail. Satriycon's "Possessed" gets thoroughly en-Graved, sounding little like the original and more like a lost late-80's Grave demo. Speaking of demos, they also re-record "Reality Of Life," which benefits from the beefier modern production.