With the trio having a strong foundation within the extreme metal world (Autopsy, Brainiol, Amber Asylum and Owl), Deathgrave have long since proven they have the technical chops and lineage to melt faces clean from bone. Hell Is Evil sees the band further expand from their grindcore, pulling in disparate elements of extreme music with added touches of hardcore punk, thrash, industrial, d-beat and death metal for additional flavouring, lending itself to the most diverse Deathgrave album so far.
From the get go the Hell Is Evil is full throttle, with the titular track leading the charge with battering rams for riffs, getting the listener warmed up for thirty more minutes of brutality. The chorus hits hard with a tongue in cheek edge; guttural rumbles of the shouted ‘Hell Is Evil’ is undeniable as a circle pit battle charge and clearly not taking themselves too seriously. Following is the prog-death leaning ‘Hard To Swallow’, with another big chorus but having the melodic weight of Death in the more elaborate guitar work. ‘I Am Here’ delivers the grindcore for long time fans of the band, breakneck blast beats and fury woven into a strong, punchy, heavy hardcore chorus.
‘Born from Death’ leans into old school death metal territory again with a strong melodic edge and some ferocious d-beat sections that yearn for a sweatbox room packed to the brink with circle pit mayhem. ‘Smaller and Smaller’ makes for a surpassing break through the tracklist, with very dramatic and stomping riffs before a sudden careen into aggressive blasts and another jump into fist-pumping d-beat and hardcore swinging break riffs; Deathgrave are fully embracing the union between hardcore and extreme metal with sludgier passages. After this, breaking into the thrash metal fused ’It’s Only Midnight’, not letting up in presenting different forms of brutal fusions at a breakneck pace.
The production is clean and spot on for the energy of the album, treading the feel of old school death metal, being both mixed and mastered at Greg Wilkinson’s Earhammer Studio (Autopsy, Necrot and Ulhthar). A particular highlight is the vocals, with both the low growls and thrash shouts having a heft behind them and the high pitched black metal howls coming through at a cutting frequency and juxtaposing the booming low growls. Lyrically it treads realms you would expect in the gruesome, gnarled death grind cut ‘Yaws 3D’ springs to mind, but the final track ‘27B/6’ gives into the absurd. Dealing with the monotonous life of an office worker filling out forms repeatedly until their inevitable death.
“It’s easy to overlook this as just another extreme album, but Deathgrave are intent on making sure they stick around in your mind after the music stops.”
‘Your Pain Is Ready’ is the shortest track on the album and lets you know: a relentless 79-second barrage of blast beats and cutting dissonant riffs assaulting the senses. The beating continues into ‘Won’t See You In Heaven’, heavy in melody and almost channelling early Mastodon in the opening riff. It soon breaks into a sludge ladened doom passage that aims to break necks, in particular when transitioning back to the high tempo death metal fury. Closing track ‘27B/6’ brings back the crossover thrash vibe, working in another earworm chorus to make the finale a memorable one.
It’s easy to overlook this as just another extreme album, but Deathgrave are intent on making sure they stick around in your mind after the music stops. Not interested in pursuing a one-note product, the band are successful in their intent to further explore and fuse different metal energies into their sound. Whilst there are expected tropes, the band’s message is willing to push decisive messages through gore tinged and aggressive, or sometimes tongue in cheek and satirical ways. Prepare yourself and get on board; it’s thirty two minutes that are well worth any extreme metal fan’s time.