Review Summary: Get into the Grave!
With
Venom's 1981 release
Welcome to Hell, the formations of
Possessed From the San Francisco Bay Area, and
Death in Florida during 1983, also others emerging such as
Morbid Angel, the Death metal scene had quite a popularity base growing at the end of the 1980's. Outside the states, there was another Breeding pool for Death metal, Sweden. Death metal had spread like an uncontrolled wildfire to Sweden. Arguably, The 2 most popular scenes emerging from Sweden were the late 1980's death metal emergence scene, such as
Entombed,
Unleashed, and
Dismember. The second being The 'Gothenburg Metal" scene, which is basically Melodic Death metal, such as
In flames,
Dark Tranquility, and others during the early 1990's. This Band and album fall into the first group. Owning this album for quite some time, and listening to it for a 4th time during this review, it is still a pleasure to hear. The many listens were to write an objective review. So time to finish up some Zaxby's Chicken, Grab a soda, and Get into the grave.
Aside from being just straight forward death metal though, is there any other way to describe
Into the Grave? Well, its slightly thrashy, its slightly groovy, and very intense.
Ola Lindgren, Grave's frontman and guitarist is a perfect fit for this band. The heavy and often dark tone of his vocals fit extremely well with the rest of the Grave regiment. When the opening track
Deformed hits, a very blended combination of drums, guitars, and bass lead into Ola's deep growl. Hearing this can give someone the idea of what this album sounds like. Within this same track, it transitions from a Slayer-like thrash sound to a Groove like chorus. Most of the time this can really sounds bad, however Grave makes the transitions work, and while the opening track can feel scattered, Grave pulls off a very impressive song.
Moving from
Deformed into
In Love. The Style of In Love leans more towards a fast paced joy-ride, as this track displays a infectious breakdown.
For your god is another interesting track. Outside of of its fast pace, It sounds like a sounds like a track about Martyrdom.
You searched for salvation, but entered damnation. Trapped by the claws of death, you die for your god. Maybe that could sum up my theory.
Obscure Infinity would have to be one of the least favorites on the album. It isn't terrible, it just has some rough edges. Outside from a fantastic solo, the song sounds a little off-beat, even by death metal standards. Ola does have some very heavy vocal moments toward the end, which is a redeeming factor.
Hating life Is an interesting track. Instrument wise, it sounds amazing. On the lyrical side it kinda feels like a re-hash from the previous track.
Where is your light? Where is your god? Where is your eternal life? Ashes to ashes dust to dust into the dark into the realm of death Hating life, your faith has died. Not the same granted, however hearing that kinda makes it feel re-hashed. The instrument and intensity levels are enough to not make these tracks bad, just slightly similar.
Into the Grave has to be one of the best tracks on the album. Everything about it from the opening growl, to a somber double bass moment, and then slipping into pandemonium. Ola has some of the best moments during
Into the grave. The scream he unleashes about a minute in will send chills down your spine. Hell, the lyrics
Into the darkness! Into the grave! gives the MOSH PIT NOW! feeling. While writing this some self-moshing might have even occurred.
Extremely Rotten Flesh is one of the slowest tracks on the album. That does not make it bad, as the pace helps keep the album different instead of every single track having the same pace. the lyrics somewhat make it bad. Sorry to say, but that much is true. It does pick up about 2 minutes in, and honestly, had a very Slayer like sound during the a lot of the song. Understanding that Slayer influenced much of the Death metal released its not surprising. Nor does it always sound like this the whole way through, but minus Ola's vocals, this one pretty much has a thrashy Slayer feel for it.
Haunted is another track to be loved. While mostly every track on here is good, Haunted stands out as great. It has the groove elements mentioned earlier, and holy s**t does it ever work well. This is another great example of the awesome guitar skill displayed by grave with the blazing solo towards the end. At the end of
Haunted is the tone in which
Day of mourning Begins. It does begin slow, but it kicks off into a fast paced storm as many tracks on this album have. Not much else to say about this one.
Inhuman Is kinda normal compared to the other tracks. Opening up with a nice little groove rift, Inhuman is an average track. The lyrics are decent, the solos are very much on par, and the thrash elements keep the listener entertained, but it can get repetitive. Now for the final track
Banished to Live Is a great way to close the album. Ending on any last rants about lyrics, i have no rant about this one. The lyrics are badass. Hearing this live would have an entire crowd destroying each other, and i am pretty certain about that. Being the longest track on the album, it manages to stay consistent the whole way through. Ola has his best moment at the end of this album, closing with a monstrous scream.
Now, onto some things to point out. I have already pointed out the lyrics. Yes, it is Death-metal, and no one should expect amazing lyrics, they should just expect destructive music. With that said, the rating isn't extremely affected, because this reviewer agrees with that notion. Still trying to be objective, these things get pointed out. The album structure works, the tracks all flow well. There was never a feeling of one track should be somewhere else. Production wise, gotta say something. At some points in the album it feels like a noise war between the vocalist and the rest of the band. This was found on the third and fourth listens. Another thing to point out is there is a lot of similarity to slayer on over half the tracks. I don't consider that a overly terrible thing, but honestly there is a little too much influence on
Into the Grave.
With all that being Said, This album is still an amazing listen. I love it and it reminds me of why the pure brutality (thus the only brutal word said) of death metal is so amazing to listen to. A terrific debut from one of sweden early death metal bands. If the rating system where different this would be a
3.75. Now with this being done, Hopefully the many that have asked for a review will be satisfied with this. Now go reminisce in some early 1990's death metal, and get into the grave! Nowwwww!!
