Grave Infestation â Carnage Gathers Review
By Steel Druhm
With so much classic heavy metal clogging up my review queue lately, Iâve been neglecting the baser caveman side of my reptilian brain. Canadaâs Grave Infestation are back to fix that with their sophomore platter, Carnage Gathers. When they last slimed my doorstep in 2022 with the gruesome Autopsy and early Death worship on Persecution of the Living, they left a mucilaginous impression on my thick skull. Their grizzled and nasty take on old school death was exactly the kind of filth I love to wallow in. Not much has changed on Carnage Gathers, which is another putrid scuzzbucket full of grotesque sounds, primitive riffs, and an IQ below that of rudimentary tool users. It revels in the early days of the genre while fetishizing the lo-fi sound of Hellhammer. Itâs all about ear abuse and carnal debasement, and I refuse to be threatened by a good time in the rot pit. Prepare to embrace the sump.
This is not a varied and complex work of art. Itâs a tug of war between extremities as the band tries to crush your chestal cavity with ghastly doom segments and then shake your brain stem with bursts of speed and punky d-beats. The whiplash is intended to induce nausea, and it often does. Opener âLiving Inhumationâ has the bona fides to have appeared on Deathâs Leprosy or Autopsyâs Severed Survival and fit right in like a bowel leech. Itâs scabby, poo-encrusted offal of a high caliber loaded with jangled, discordant riffs and abysmal vocals. The guitar tone is absolute sewage, and everything is dank and reeking. The only downside is the length. At nearly 6 minutes, it overextends its welcome by the end. This is an unfortunately common trend here, with multiple songs of good construction outliving their trust funds of attention. I love many things about âRitualized Autopsy,â especially the slimy riffs that ooze everywhere and make you feel unclean. I also appreciate its relentless, unstoppable assault. At points, the guitar work even reminds me of Destructionâs immortal debut EP, Sentence of Death, which is a very good thing. But it too plods on too long, losing some of its visceral impact.
Every track has things going on that I love. Grave Infestation have that sound Iâm hopelessly drawn to, and the way they layer nerve-flaying fretboard abuse, bone-breaking grooves, stupid chuggs, and atmospheric noodling gets me every time. Lay some vomitous vocals and pounding drums over that shit and Steel comes to your yard for the gutshake. However, the band doesnât know when enough is enough, and quality cuts with righteous moments like âBlack Widowâ and âDrenched in Bloodâ refuse to stop when they should. There are some absolute ball breaking though, like primal closer âMurder Spreeâ which just fucks up your shit with insane, panic-inducing riffs that wonât leave you alone. Itâs like they took the best moments from Possessedâs timeless classic Seven Churches and sutured them roughly to early Autopsy demos. What more could you want? At 39:56 minutes, Carnage Gathers doesnât feel too long, though certain tracks do. The production is perfectly mucky and raw, and the guitar sound is exactly the kind of abrasive my rusty metal heart wants.
Iâm a big fan of the guitar work from Graham Christofferson and âBC.â Itâs their horrific string mutilation that makes the material throb, and they have a knack for skin-removing riffs and twisted flourishes. They create the soundtrack to a madmanâs nightmare while paying homage to classic early death albums we all know and love. At times, their riffs sound like those on Bathoryâs The Return, which makes me unreasonably giddy. Graham Christoffersonâs vocals are a match made in Hell â horrid, repulsive, and full of gut-busting throat exertions. He reminds me of Chris Reifert (Autopsy) at times and, at others, Jeff Beccera (Possessed), but heâs always disgusting. The entire band is solid, but the lack of editing is a nagging defect.
I desperately wanted to give Carnage Gathers a higher rating because I dig so much of what Grave Infestation does. They play exactly the kind of death metal I love, and their commitment to appalling excess speaks to my crude ape brain. If they trimmed the blubber off the best cuts, this would rise in the ranking considerably. As it stands, Carnage Gathers is a quality death metal album sure to please the sick and deranged. It could have been MOAR though!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: graveinfestation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/graveinfestation | instagram.com/graveinfestation
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025
Kenstrosity
Formed from members of Canadian antifascist crust/sludge metal outfit Ahna and known death filthifiers Ceremonial Bloodbath, Grave Infestation helped pull me out of a skull pit intent on suffocating me under a mountain of bullshit and dumped me right back into a different skull pit entirelyâthis one teeming with rot and cadaveric bouquets. I suppose I should be thankful, as this is the kind of thing that fills my pores with what some might consider the scent of WICTORY. So, without further ado, I dive deeper into the corpse pile that is Grave Infestationâs sophomore record, Carnage Gathers.
Death metal is a known quantity. We all know it when we hear it, and can describe it without much conflict or confusion. Such is the case for Grave Infestation. Carnage Gathers represents death metal at its most rank, channeling equal parts Asphyx and Incantation, with a membrane of slick Autopsy sleaze surrounding its diseased skin. Itâs a combination that works wonders for those who search tirelessly for the nastiest of the nasty, and in that respect, Grave Infestation donât disappoint. Buzzing and boisterous riffs abound, slammed into the earth below by the crushing heft of doom-laden chugs and yanked back upright by a relentless barrage of squealing solos. Cheering on these deadly antics, a vomitous wretch, brutally projected from afar, echoes its sickening cry across Carnage Gathersâ necrotic scenery. Drawing the line just shy of the caverns from whence Tomb Moldâs early work spawned, Carnage Gathers boasts a sound that exudes old school death at its prime.
Of course, that means that Iâm drawn to Carnage Gathers almost by instinct, an animal magnetism against which mental fortitude and willpower crumbles at the slightest breeze. Choice cuts âInuman Remains,â âBlack Widow,â and âDrenched in Bloodâ take full advantage of my weakness here. Bridging the gap between Incantationâs sheer heft with the vicious onslaught of Autopsyâs violent ways, these songs juggle riffs and grooves engaging enough to motivate the necks of even the staunchest death dissident. âBlack Widow,â in particular, marks Grave Infestationâs high water mark, boasting a punky d-beat swagger in conjunction with screeching dive bombs that make an instant memory. Songs like these show that Grave Infestation not only understand the kind of songwriting that made death metal an international underground phenomenon but also identify and implement subtle ways to invigorate that well-worn, comfortable style for a modern audience.
However, Carnage Gathers demonstrates understanding and implementation inconsistently. Pulling from many of its doomier segments, Grave Infestationâs writing outside of their ravenous tears and mid-paced stomps leaves a lot on the table. âRitualized Autopsy,â âThe Anthropophagus,â and âMurder Spree,â among a couple others, routinely inject slower passages characterized by generic chugs and repetitive solos, thereby undermining Carnage Gathersâ strongest material with filler. Considering several tracks reach past five minutes with the inclusion of these insubstantial sections of languid doom death, it seems a clear weak point in Grave Infestationâs repertoire. The undeniable fact that their ripping, death-focused outbursts regularly demolish everything in their path each time they rear their ugly heads only further illuminates the flat, featureless nature of their doom-laden dalliances.
As I surface from the Carnage that Gathers to breathe deep of stale, putrid air, I rest easy knowing that despite its flaws, Carnage Gathers isnât half bad. Its best moments are a ten-ton anvil of repugnant fun, and the doomed detours that fail to resonate in any meaningful way also donât derail the experience entirely. Instead, these flawed moments serve as an opportunity for growth. Grave Infestation are still young and have a ton of potential. It wouldnât take much for them to further refine and empower their sound, launching the quality of their output into higher echelons. For the moment, though, Carnage Gathers is a simple, fun platter of filth, and thatâs fine with me.
Rating: Mixed
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