Gravehammer: Primordial Principles | Fundamental Forces (2019)

I'm pretty sure the title of this EP is actually longer than the EP itself.  This is the third and, thus far, most recent release by the German band.  It is made up of four songs and lasts just under 17 minutes.

This release takes on more of a death/doom vibe, with opening track "White Void" sounding like something that Asphyx or Autopsy would have produced.  The release mostly continues along that vein, eschewing the catchiness of the previous two releases in favor of a heavier, more aggressive sound.  The doom metal influences are also much more prominent on this release.  Gravehammer occasionally slows things way down to a crawl, something they did not do often on the previous releases.  "Solum Aeternum" still possesses most of the characteristics of the previous releases, but by and large this one sounds quite different.  The vocals have also changed, taking a much more gruff approach most of the time, but adding some blackened rasps as well.

This release finds Gravehammer evolving into more of a death/doom sound.  Most of the black metal elements have been erased, with the exception of the occasional vocal, and a lot of the rumbling catchiness is also gone.  What is left is a band very much in the vein of the aforementioned Asphyx and Autopsy.  This is not a bad thing, but I wonder if the band has lost some of their identity here.

Gravehammer: Nine Days Deep (2017)

Here we have the second release from the subject of yesterday's post, the death/doom band Gravehammer.  I talked about the band's first release, in particular their rumbling and downright catchy riffs.  This release is mostly more of the same.

The first half of the release is the second EP.  All of the songs are new here and the band built on the foundation set on their first release.  If anything, the riffs and songs on this release are even more likely to get stuck in the head.  Most of the tracks are built around one or two riffs and are quite short, other than the seven minute epic last track.  The songs are much more stripped-down and raw.  The vocal style has changed somewhat, taking on more of a clean tone, but with a sinister edge.  The vocals are more of an angry bark than the more death metal-style vocals on the first release.  Some of the songs seem more influenced by a group like Carnivore than any doom metal band, particularly "Friday Night - Coffin Ride", which at what point stops and the singer yells out "Because dead chicks don't say no!"  Very Peter Steele-esque.

The second part of my release is a live recording.  This is only on the physical copies of the release and not on the digital copy.  The live recording sounds decent, but it does sound like a very small crowd.  There are times you can almost hear conversations happening around the recording equipment.  Ultimately the live recording is not essential listening. 

It is a little surprising that Gravehammer went in this direction on this release.  They went for a rawer and more simplistic sound.  I think I prefer the first demo, but this is decent enough.

Gravehammer: Gravehammer (2016)

There are two bands on the Metal Archives named Gravehammer.  One is a Swedish group that released a couple quick demos and then changed their name to Ensnared.  The other is this group, a German band active since 2015.  Somehow, I ended up with all of their recordings to date.  Both of the Gravehammers combine death and doom metal and generally sound somewhat similar.

This is Gravehammer's first demo, a six-song affair that lasts less than half an hour.  The ideas are still raw and developing at this point, but the songs are generally short with rumbling riffs, a lot of bass and gruff, throaty vocals.  Most of the songs have a heavy groove that makes nodding along (or headbanging) pretty easy to do.  The riffs are pretty damn catchy. 

This is a very good demo and a decent foundation for this band to build on.  As I said, I have their other recordings as well, and will be taking a look at how Gravehammer evolved from here.