Serving as empirical proof that pretty much everything once labelled uncool will be cool again within the span of a generation, old-school death metal has experienced a resurgence in the past few years. Metalheads are again waxing poetic about boxy-sounding snare drums, Boss HM-2 pedals, and John Tardy. We’re back to the mindset that polished productions are for pop music, because hey man, this is death metal and we don’t want your soap to wash our perfectly greasy hair and muddy Doc Martens.
When death metal was developing in the late 80s and early 90s, Grave was one of those bands that, while not the most original of the bunch, helped to set the genre on solid ground with the classic Into the Grave. For over two decades now, Grave have built their reputation upon a consistent sound: Alternating passages of thrash-influenced death metal, d-beat punk, and crushing grooves, Ola Lindgren’s fiery roars about death and decay, and a focus on simple, catchy riffs rather than technicality. Their newest, Out of Respect for the Dead, doesn’t veer too far from what they’ve established, although the album does stand as a testament to the longevity of their formula.
“Mass Grave Mass” starts the album with simple but memorable riffs and thrashing drums, with Ola’s bellowing growls phrased to match the thrash-indebted rhythms. “Flesh Before My Eyes” offers no reprieve, continuing in much the same fashion as the opener but with a crushing doom passage halfway through. The slower bits are where Grave excel; the faster riffs, as Out of Respect for the Dead continues, tend to blur together into homogeneity, though no less entertaining in their worship of Slayer and Sodom. It’s one of those situations where, while listening, the riffs are fun and definitely get the blood pumping, but once the album is finished, you can’t quite remember exactly what song that riff is in. That said, the midtempo stomper “Plain Pine Box” is fantastic the whole way through, placing eerie octave chords and dissonance against its brutish, sludgy rhythms, and the title track follows suit with a memorable, anthemic chorus. “The Ominous ‘They’” may be the overall strongest cut on the album, finally finding a good balance between the faster death/thrash and slower doom elements.
“Redeemed Through Hate,” while the fastest track on Out of Respect for the Dead, doesn’t have much in terms of variation, but again, the riffs are just bone-headed enough to work really well. The album finishes off with some slow-burn cuts that fill the sweet spot between South of Heaven-esque leads and lurching doom-death, with the 10-minute closer “Grotesque Glory” rolling all of the elements into one massive yet catchy track. Overall, Grave still know how to mix things up in the songwriting, and their ability to counter the brutal with the ominous and creepy is no clearer than on this album.
Production-wise, Out of Respect for the Dead is beefy and thick, the guitars taking up most of the mix with their saturated and lava-like tone, though the drum tones hit hard and the bass is pleasantly audible. It wallops like a hammer through a good set of speakers, and although it definitely has the “major label polish,” Grave’s natural grit can never be tamed. Additionally, this album is on the short side, so the lack of variety is made up for the fact that this is a brutal but short listen.
The barrier of age certainly hasn’t mellowed Grave, and while Out of Respect for the Dead isn’t groundbreaking – then again, we’re talking retro death metal here – Out of Respect for the Dead nails all the stylistic marks that makes Grave one of the most consistently enjoyable bands in underground metal. It may not distinguish itself from Grave’s other albums, but the songwriting and the power of the riffs still make this an enjoyable listen.
Rating: 3.5/5
Out of Respect for the Dead is available for pre-order for an October 16 release through Century Media Records on CD, LP, and digital download.