Reviews for September 7th, 2012

Grave – Endless Procession of Souls

If one is a fan of death metal, Grave probably needs little introduction. This Swedish band has been active since the late 80s and “Endless Procession of Souls” is their tenth album.

There are no surprises for me on this album. I got exactly what I expected from “Endless Procession of Souls.” This is old school death metal, straight up with no frills or gimmicks. Loud, fast, and brutal. What more can one ask from a death metal album?

The production is very good, but I do feel like there could be a little more punch to the sound. I enjoy the fairly crisp production, but death metal like this just begs to have a crushing low-end, and while there is some heaviness, I think it would be cool to have a little more.

Always a pleasure to get new metal from Grave. Check out the track “Passion of the Weak.”

Revolting – Hymns of Ghastly Horror

Barely changing gears we move on to “Hymns of Ghastly Horror” by Revolting. This is the fourth album for Revolting. For those that are not aware, Revolting features the seemingly ubiquitous Rogga Johansson, a Swedish death metal musician who performs in an array of projects, including Paganizer, Demiurg, Ribspreader and The Grotesquery. Rogga seems unable to sit still because there always seems to be something new from the guy in one band or another.

Of all Rogga’s projects, Revolting is my favorite. Revolting plays an old school death metal with a slightly melodic twist. I would not call this Swedish melodic death metal, this is more brutal than that, but it does come across as more melodic than say, Cannibal Corpse. While Revolting plays in the same intense and brutal way that CC does, Revolting’s lead guitar work takes this death metal down a different, more melodic path. The vocals, as one would expect from death metal, are very harsh and rather wet sounding.

I really enjoyed last year’s “In Grisly Rapture”, and despite taking only a year to create “Hymns of Ghastly Horror” I am once again enthralled by Revolting. Rogga sure has a knack for churning out good extreme metal. I recommend checking out this album. Here is the track “The Mother of Darkness.”

Jess and the Ancient Ones – S/T

Hailing from Finland is Jess and the Ancient Ones with their self-titled debut album of what I can only call psychedelic doom rock. I could not find very much information about the band other than what is on their Facebook page. All I got there was they are from Finland.

Anyway, they play retro sounding rock that has a very late 60s or early 70s vibe with an 80s pop rock sensibility. The female lead vocals are provided by, um, Jess. I am thinking this is supposed to appeal to fans of The Devil’s Blood or Sabbath Assembly or something, but not being a fan of either of those bands I could be wrong.

I am not normally a fan of music like this, so it was on a bit of a whim that I decided to check it out. The music can be relaxing at times and I am sure this would be great tunage for toking up, but it just seems out of place after listening to death metal.

I can enjoy the musicianship on the album, and Jess has a good voice, but this is just not something that I would find myself reaching for.