Grave - Burial Ground

June 16, 2010

Reviewer: J. A. Burt

One of the originating bands of the Swedish Death Metal scene, Grave has been around for a long, long time.  Their early albums are undoubtedly some of that scene’s most impressive and important, and while they may have settled into a bit of a pattern of late, they still manage to serve up some ultra-heavy, punishing, groove-laden death metal.  Newly released ninth album Burial Ground is much in line with what they’ve been doing for the last seven or eight years, but with a renewed sense of the lasting and memorable feeling that seemed noticeably absent on their last release. 

Grave’s four albums since reforming sometime around the turn of the century have felt a little interchangeable.  That’s by no means meant to indicate that they’re of poor quality in the least, but that they all sound very similar to each other with exception given to Fiendish Regression which definitely has a more sinister edge to it.  None of the late era albums have really been able to recapture the old excitement and emotion of early albums like Into the Grave and Soulless (who can ever forget the intense anger in Jorgen’s bellow “PRAAAY TO YOUR GOD!!!!!” on 1994 track “I Need You”? Or the palpable anguish of “Morbid Way to Die”) These examples are not intended to disparage Ola’s vocals as he has done a fine job as frontman, and performs the old material exceptionally well live, but a lot of that agonizing emotion seems to be missing from much of the newer material.

As stated earlier, Burial Ground manages to recapture some of that old intensity. The vicious “Bloodtrail” with its stomping riffs and featuring a scathing guest solo by Nile’s Karl Sanders, and the absolutely ripping opening track “Liberation” immediately stand out as pleasingly fervent and thrashy blasts of urgent death metal.  Long a band adept at achieving brutality through the effective use of mid-paced tempos, Grave manages to slow some sections of the songs on Burial Ground down to near-doom pace, and “Semblance in Black” includes a healthy dose of the thick, heavy groove that’s been a trademark of the band’s since inception.  Interestingly, we get a re-recording of 1989 demo track “Sexual Mutilation” that’s really very good and more than does the original justice, but also unwittingly illustrates the disparity between the classic and modern material.

This is a good album, and a decided improvement over 2008’s Dominion VIII, but the fact remains that if you are not a fan of Grave’s late era you probably won’t find much here to herald.  If, however, like me, you did happen to enjoy those albums, and you just recognize that a new Grave album is always a time to get excited, you’ll be quite pleased with Burial Ground.

Release Date: June 14th, 2010
Label: Regain Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Liberation
2.  Semblance in Black
3.  Dismembered Mind
4.  Ridden With Belief
5.  Conqueror
6.  Outcast
7.  Sexual Mutilation
8.  Bloodtrail
9.  Burial Ground

Total playing time: 38:01

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