Grave – Burial Ground
Grave are among the elite of the Swedish metal scene. Side by side with Unleashed, Entombed, Dismember, and others, they stormed into the early 90s with what became known as Stockholm death metal. It’s a style that has influenced the international death metal template immensely, boasting huge gritty guitars, brutal yet melodic riffs, and the staple guttural low growl.
I really wish I could just end the review here by stating, “Grave are a legendary band and they have a new album”. Alas, I must analyze said album, and what I have to say ain’t pretty, folks.
A while back I caught a lot of flack about my review of Obituary’s Darkest Day. Old school die-hards accused me of not knowing the relevance of the band, and so on and so forth. The thing they neglected to realize is that a band’s new album is not made critically bulletproof because of their earlier career. If a band wants to ride high off the old days, they should tour the old material and make DVDs like Slayer’s Still Reigning that bring the classics back into the light.
My standpoint on the issue remains the same with Grave’s Burial Ground. It is standard fare Stockholm death circa the 90s, plain and simple. Unfortunately for this band and others of their generation, Bloodbath and Miseration are around now, bringing that exact sound into the present with a fresh dose of modern brutality and edge. Furthermore, this release sounds a little disjointed and chaotic as compared to their other recent output.
Music scenes thrive and progress because of artists constantly pushing the envelope and building on top of what’s already there. It doesn’t have to be new people doing it all the time either; there are certainly multiple examples of the old guard coming back with challenging new material. In Grave’s case though, the band seems content in sticking with a done to death formula that while satisfying to their existing fan base won’t be winning many people over in 2010.
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9 Comments
June 26th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Great review. Impressions I got from the metal community is that no one dares to criticize bands for unoriginality. I'm glad some people do. This album looks boring as hell.
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Jen replied:
June 26th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I agree.
I also love it when a reviewer listens to an album for what it is, rather than base their review off the band's reputation (like Eric's review for Slayer's latest: http://thenewreview.net/reviews/slayer-world-painted-blood )
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SkinneeJay replied:
June 26th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I always found Slayer's "Reign In Blood" bad, and I'm the kind that can forgive a band for being one-dimensional if they can be fun (I like Sevendust).
Eric is iconclastic, yo.
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June 26th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Great review Eric! Your right on the money with this one. I don't think they will ever top Soulless.
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June 26th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Bands reputation have nothing to do right here, also with Slayer review (these guys are playing for about 30 years and they recorded one of their best albums and it got 2.0? cool).
About Grave… this new album is great and it sounds like it could be released in 90`s which is totally awesome…soooo 1.5? meh
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Matt replied:
June 26th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Mozil what are you even talking about? "Bands reputation have nothing to do right here?" Huh?
So what your saying is that an album that sounds like its between 10 to 20 years old is a good thing? Yea, I don't think so.
I picked this up this past week and I tend to agree with Lee. They will never top Soulless, ever!
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mozil replied:
June 26th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I reffered to Jen, read her post…
And yeah, and death metal album that sounds like its 20 years old is a good thing, it dosent make the album good, the music is, and so it is in this case. They didnt topped Souless but its still nice freaking album.
And if you found Slayer’s "Reign In Blood" bad… just… just… well i wont write it.
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June 27th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
You know when a phone company puts out a new phone every six months, and it has a ton of cool new features and improvements?
Well, that's what bands should be doing 20 years into their career, IMO. I'm not saying revamp everything, just tweak the sound and style, use what works, ditch what doesn't and keep getting better.
Since everyone downloads everything now, they seem to forget that music is actually a commodity that is sold for money. If Grave want to put out the same version 1.0 phone every 3 years, antennae and all, then that's fine, but I'm not going to suggest that anyone buy it…
If you want to do that though and love this album, then great! We differ in opinion but we can still all support the scene in our own way.
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September 12th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
How is this a great review? It doesn’t tell me anything about the album, nothing. Is the production bad? the vocals don’t match the music? The riffs don’t match each other in a way that they make a song that makes sense? Is it over the top or is it boring? because of no changes? because of too many changes?
I just listened to the samples in Grave’s website and sounds great. Then I read this and I read that it is not good but I don’t have an idea why would the album not be good other than “the band has been around for a long time and that there are other good newer bands”. Now I’ll just go get the album and listen to it then.
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