The insane parade of occult, dark and primitive death metal continues. And it is no surprise when you find out that Grave Upheaval comes from Australia, the country from which a big chunk of this type of music originates. With a lineup comprised of members of Portal and Impetuous Ritual, I guess you get a good idea of what to expect in Grave Upheaval’s debut album.
The ritualistic ambiance appears straight from the start, with the band using their mid-tempo vibe to create towering moments of unreal awe. The hellish sound of “1” and the band’s general minimalistic outlook on the song structure are bringing forth a claustrophobic aura. Seriously, it is as if the guys from Grave Upheaval have just thrown you into a dark well. There is no light to be found here, only the haunting vocals, whispering secrets of your impending doom. This is sincerely as dark as it can get, with Grave Upheaval using their chthonic riffs, slithering through the darkness on the backbone of their music, sending waves of desperation your way.
Your mind is at the very mercy of this band. With their stomach turning, infecting sound they are constantly tormenting your very existence. The thick darkness that encircles this release is truly impenetrable. The all out attack of “3” is capable of inflicting destruction on a subatomic level to the listener, with Grave Upheaval having complete command of the primal chaos that dwells within their tracks. The steady beating that the band is wreaking on your mind numbs your senses, with the endgame remaining the same: complete sonic annihilation.
The vocals themselves are an absolute menace on their own right. Drowned in reverb, they are the main force that drags you down into the darkest abyss. The essence of the band lies within the strange equilibrium that they are able to reach between aggression and ambiance. Aided by the dirty, old school production of course, the sound manages to remain dark and chaotic, completely feral and primal but it also invokes an intriguing ambiance that you simply cannot ignore. The most interesting of the more ambient parts in this album would have to be the beginning of “5”, with the band sending those terrifying voices your way, managing to establish an unworldly ambiance within the already chaotic structure of the track. Especially the last minute of the song with the breathy vocals is insanely horrifying. On the other hand, in the following song, “6”, they unleash all of their primordial brutality, showing that in their core there is nothing else to be found but pure evil.
This offering of fire and smoke is concluded in the most suitable manner, with “7”, the longest track of the debut. Spanning for over ten minutes, it slowly builds up for the first four minutes, in a twisted and agonizing way, which is suddenly brought to an end by the heavy, destructive riffs of the band. By this point your brain is desperately trying to handle the unbelievable load that is Grave Upheaval, causing sonic illusions to enter the auditory spectrum. The intensity of the song stretches even more reaching to a point of no return, and that is when the album suddenly finishes and you are left alone within the ruins that darkness and chaos have left behind.
This is an album that is aiming solely on the darker side of the human psyche. The music within is so murky and corrosive that it is going to test your very limits. Question is: can you handle it?
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