Considered to be one of the pioneers of the genre, Grave has been true to the old school sound for over 20 years. Their first 2 full-lengths are absolute classics, and in the following years they recovered from a less convincing period with their most recent albums “Fiendish Regression” and “As Rapture Comes”. Coming a trusted 2 years after the previous release, the eighth studio album “Dominion VIII” is out now.
It’s immediately clear that the band delivers what is expected from them: A quality Swedish old school record! In fact, the band hasn’t sounded this old school in a while, especially with the slightly murky, down-tuned crushing production, so well known from the scene’s classics. Musically it’s also what you can call a typical Grave album, and surprisingly that’s what hampered my initial enthusiasm. Perhaps it’s just a bit too comparable to its predecessor? But multiple spins make sure that there’s no denying the quality presented on “Dominion VIII”. And although I wouldn’t even call the album a grower, I think that in the end “Dominion VIII” is probably the best album Grave has released since their first 2 albums. Heaviness, groove and the occasional solo go hand in hand in tracks like ‘A World In Darkness’, ‘Stained By Hate’, ‘Annihilated Gods’ and ‘Sinners Lust’. So while maybe it didn’t overwhelm as much at first, the new Grave album is undeniably a great Swedish old school Death Metal album by the one of the elite bands in the genre!
