The Gormandizing Death
Forget
about Messi. Forget about Xavi and Iniesta. Forget about Camp Nou and Estadio
Cornellá-El Prat, Sagrada Familia and Gran Teatre de Liceu, because now
Barcelona and all Catalonia have a new pearl. Its name is Graveyard. And
although these Spaniards cover Spanish death metal with glory, another country
comes to my mind during listening to this debut album. Yes, it is mighty Sweden
and the beginning of the nineties. With these twelve songs the metal history came
back to the glorious past when such bands as Dismember, Entombed, Nihilist and
others were reigning, to the past where pure death exhalements were covering
the newborn stage. Each child in the kindergarten knows that Dismember and
Nihilist are dead now, whereas Entombed changed their music. But actually the
whole situation seems to draw to an end, when the sounds of “One with the Dead”
strike my ears unmercifully. What is more, I can knowingly and willfully
declare that this first album in Graveyard’s career is the splendid successor
of “Like an Ever Flowing Stream” and “Indecent & Obscene”.
The front
cover is the first thing that absorbs the attention. Why? Because it is very
simple yet expressive and convictive, and there is no color palette with only
black and white hues. It perfectly fits to the musical entirety. Ok, let’s back
to the music, because after forty seconds of ‘traditional’ intro, the death is
unleashed with arrival of “Pantheon Vulture”. The realization of sound is
nothing new here (Dan Swanö mastered it), but I treat this like
the only way of production. What does it mean? Far from nowadays modern and
sterile offerings of small and big bands, the Spaniards are drowning in Swedish
metal water, well known from the glorious past, so I can describe Graveyard as an
old school outfit. On the other hand everything is fresh and vivid, in spite
they play death metal with doom (yes!) and heavy influences. It’s hard to write
about the best song, about the highlight, even after many meetings with the
album. So I start quite atypically, writing about two last songs which differ
from the rest significantly. These tracks are pure doom metal killers, however
the last one is Candlemass cover (really daring idea with clean vocals) and
there is no surprise, while “The Skull” is a real monolith that crashes my mind
– great pounding riffs and mournful guitar lead, regular clear growls, church-like
keyboards with spoken words and paralyzing atmosphere that encircles my senses.
The rest of tracks have many changes in tempo, they are varied and full of
metal passion, so no boredom is recognized. The album is marked by splendid
melodies reminding of Dismember or Entombed from their legendary debuts: in
track called “The Burning Gate” especially after 1:40, in turn the beginning of
“Riding a Pale Horse” is like a faster opening from “Dismembered” (absolutely
cult song from Dismember’s first full-length appearance), in addition, after
three minutes, whole impression is intensified by slow down with some voices of
tortured or undead ones. Also very interesting is instrumental track “Abandoned
Churches”, here my thoughts fly away to “Silent Are the Watchers” taken from
“Death Metal” album by Dismember (again!) due to similar guitar work and
amazing heavy metal solo leads…
Nullum est
iam dictum quod non sit non sit dictum prius. These words perfectly describe
situation of today’s underground. There are lots of old school crews, mostly
rooted in Swedish metal history and for certain Graveyard is one of them. Is it
trend or fashion? For sure it is getting out of control just like worthless and
of no artistic value Beherit/Blasphemy “kvlt” copycats some years ago. But this
Spanish killer is a proof that quite new band (formed in 2007 merely) is able
to create great music based on the past. Of course there is one essential
condition: without an unique individual touch of metal, you are nothing but just
a poor imitator. And Graveyard has it beyond the shadow of a doubt, what is
more, they are exceptional band on the scene, even if they are not explorers of
a new land, they keep the fire of pure aged death metal still burning. “One with
the Dead” is in the league with old Dismember, Desultory or Entombed, not “in
the vein of…”, but another splendid piece of metal leading the genre. In one of
the countless interviews given to the underground press Javi Felez (vel
Bastard) said: “our goal is to make cool songs with cool riffs, that’s where we
put all of our efforts, no matter if it is ‘original’ or not”. Is there a need
to say more? Music, performance and attitude – everything is complete here, so
the final mark is very, very high. And I hope the future will bring more morbid
tunes of pure old-school death metal. I believe they are able to do it.
But now
“Prologue: The Reaping” is filling the air…
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(previously written for Encyclopaedia Metallum, on July, 2012, now modified a bit)
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