Gravehead

In contrast to their rather inconsistent and mushy 2001 offering, Grenouer’s 1999 opus “Gravehead” makes a better impression with a somewhat more orthodox approach to their claimed style. There’s a couple of elements detailing the edges of it, but mostly this is an exercise in late 90s melodeath, though it tends to avoid the overtly Iron Maiden oriented aspects of the Gothenburg scene and doesn’t overuse the tremolo riff. A number of the obvious clichés are avoided, but at the same time, this album doesn’t quite break out into the triumphant hybrid of anger and sadness that normally typifies the genre. It’s good, it exploits some nice atmospheric elements here and there, but nothing gets quite to the point of reaching out and grabbing the listener.

In spite of a general coasting nature to this album, it does have a couple of interesting moments. The first full length song “The Time Spool” has this unusual mid-tempo rocking feel to it that is almost happy sounding at times, almost like late 70s pop/punk done with guttural barks and a nastier guitar sound. “Down Under Dome Of Heaven” gets a bit more proto-typical and moves back and forth between a frenetic variant on Amon Amarth and the more Viking oriented black metal albums from the mid 90s. The ballad offering “Alone In The Dark” is also a bit interesting, although somewhat derivative of some older Metal ballads during Sabbath’s early 70s era (think “Sleeping Village” and “Planet Caravan”).

Largely the value of the purchase is relative to what packaging the album(s) in question come in. Taken together, “The Odour O’Folly” and “Gravehead” would fall under the category of bargain bin death metal, which is an all too common status for many modern bands of the later 90s. But if they can be procured individually, the latter is worth getting while the former could be skipped. Although not necessarily the best band out there, this one has put out some solid work, but it’s found earlier in their career, which is kind of a cliché, but nonetheless very true.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-obsever.com) as part of the 2009 double album reissue on February 1, 2011.