Grave

Hating Life (Century Media)
by Scott Hefflon

After Soulless ripped innards around the world, I see how Grave could be Hating Life right about now. After a stinkbomb cover of Celtic Frost’s “Mesmerized” on the Dwell Records comp., singer/ bassist Jorgen Sandstrom split to join Entombed, leaving Grave, seemingly, in its namesake. Rather than fill Jorgen’s shoes and try to watch his I-gargle-blood-while-doing-vocals, guitarist and previous singer Ola Lindgren decided to add his angry roar to the mix. With a human rage, as opposed to the demon growl of Jorgen, Ola has an almost hardcore sound. As before, the guitar and drums are so fucking heavy, mean, tuned-low, and brutal, that one will have no trouble recognizing this as an uncompromising death metal release. Pounding, chugging, and angry as Satan on Christmas, anything Grave lost in bass-heavy rumblings (they have no permanent bassist) is more than compensated for by Tomas Skogsberg’s masterful production. The choppy stop/start style is complemented by the Kreator-esque solos, screaming harmonics, and the noisy drama of distorted chaos. Reasonably new to the mix are the quick samples of Batman and Robocop. Ya gotta love the ’90s. In a particularly slamming moment in “Winternight,” Ola actually shouts the word “Thrash.” Too bad, the stomping and slashing of the previous song really had my head bobbing. C’est la vie, a bit of “thrashing” and fist-bangin’ grooves makes Hating Life a solid release, and Grave a band that’s risen from its own.