DEATHGRAVE

DEATHGRAVE     “It’s Only Midnight”

By Dr. Abner Mality

Greg Wilkinson is the guiding hand behind DEATHGRAVE; with long standing membership in the mighty AUTOPSY and underrated sludge-lords BRAINOIL, you know he’s got solid credentials in the extreme side of the metal world. In DEATHGRAVE,he’s joined by other veterans of the West Coast scene to deliver gnarly, punishing death metal.

“Ant Baby” dishes out fast, furious destruction with zero innovation but with “On All Fours”, we see DEATHGRAVE is not always content to deliver the expected hand. This latter cut is a woozy, delirious tarpit of a song, thick with rubbery bass and caustic noisy guitar...the ghost of AUTOPSY in their stranger moments is definitely here. It’s one of the best tracks on the album. Elsewhere, we get short thrashing battering rams like “Sewer Runs Through Her”, “Your Rulers Are Here” and “Atomic Narcotic Withdrawal” that show punk roots and do their job quick and fast.

They kind of put it all together in longer cuts like “Rats Are Back” and “Lonely Streets” that mix punk/thrash with slower, somewhat doomier riffs. These are heads down all the way. DEATHGRAVE, like so many bands these days, is just playing what they know best and what they like to hear themselves. If stuff like AUTOPSY, GHOUL and Razorback Records back catalogue flips your switch, this is an easy choice to pick up.

TANKCRIMES RECORDS 

DEATHGRAVE