While we were thrown an EP in the form of ‘Lifeless Obsession’, German Death Metal band Soul Grinder returns with a full-length album two years after their debut, ‘Chronicles Of Decay’ from 2020. That debut album was received very positively on our VM-Underground pages, stating this was the album that put the Bremen (Germany) Death Metal scene definitively on the map. Let’s dig a little deeper in that statement with this subsequent album.
Why not start with the conclusion and answer the question whether Soul Grinder is indeed a welcome entity that puts the German Death Metal scene upside down? Well, I have heard ‘Anthems From The Abyss’ a couple of times now and I can not but conclude that, while it does sound pretty decent, it never gets really exciting. So, to my ears I think it is a rather bold statement to say that this album (or the previous one, for that matter) will really chance anything. Not for the German Death Metal scene as a whole, and I can’t imagine Soul Grinder being a gamechanger for the local scene either. And without wanting to sound rude, I don’t think this will get the band anywhere apart from a few local fans. The music is simply just too generic. The mix of rather tame riffs, bland vocals, standard drums and a flat sound doesn’t get their game going. There’s some decent riffs here and there, but it hardly gets out of its Six Feet Under-like snooze. Though their band name might suggests otherwise, Soul Grinder isn’t quite grinding anything, let alone your soul…
