Grave dropped their debut album Into the Grave in 1991 and have been killing it ever since, most recently on their Morbid Ascent EP. While the release only has three new songs on it along with a Satyricon cover and an edited version of a song off Endless Procession of Souls from 2012, Morbid Ascent is a gore-ridden slab of pure death metal that will rip your skull open and spill your gray matter all over the floor.
Kicking off with "Venial Sin," the band go from zero to ludicrous speed pretty quickly, just in case you weren't sure if things were going to take a turn for a classic death metal sound. The song barrels along up to about the halfway mark, where it breaks into a triplet-kind of feel and slows down… only to speed up again right before the ending. It's true death metal a la their own earlier works, Obituary, and maybe even a little Morbid Angel-type stuff too. While most of the album sticks to the basics (in the best way possible), the end of the title track incorporates some slow, slow riffing and a horn section, which might sound like it's lame and cliche, but it sounds a little more like the world is coming to an end all around you.
The cover of Satyricon's "Possessed" is arguably better than the original, with the band seemingly putting their heart and soul into playing the living shit out of the song and making it as brutal as they possibly can. So much so that it may as well be a part of Grave's repertoire; that's how good of a cover it is. Then there's the "Epos" edit, which according to various sites is the "Risen From the Tomb" remix version and is about a minute shorter than the one you'll find on Endless Procession of Souls. It sounds cleaner than the one off Endless Procession, but not in a "lost it's gore-flavored madness" kind of way, just a little more solid and a little more… heavy. Let's just say it's a solid addition to the EP.
It's tough to say a lot about a five-track EP, three of which are originals that haven't been on anything else just yet… but does that knock down the worth of the release? Hell no! Like I said up top, Morbid Ascent is a jagged, no-holds-barred slab of pure death metal that will bludgeon you into a pile mashed bones and puréed skin in the span of it's 26-minute running time. What Grave accomplished in 2012, which was letting the metal public know they were still relevant, holds true for Morbid Ascent as well.
Those without a taste for the brutal need not apply.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCVfCvQRjM[/youtube]
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