The 27th of September sees Missouri metallers Degrave release their new album “Metalithic”, a nine-track trip down a metal lover’s road.
The old-school feel of their music is classic, as they draw inspiration from the heady days of late 80s and early 90s thrash pioneers and give it a new lease of life. “Usurper Of The Flames” opens the album with a wave of reverb before the cutting riffs with an accompaniment of drums and bass comes crashing in, the pulsating rhythm kicks big time, hooking you instantly, and by the time the vocals come in you will be losing your mind, there is a Slayer still riff that runs through while the solo midway through kills, the speed, the intensity just everything about this track screams listen to me, epic. “Sing The Body Electric” is a mixture of doom and thrash; the doom side is evident at the opening, with heavy drums and bass, while the thrash side emerges as the track progresses, featuring crunching riffs and machine-gun drumming.
The vocals are a little higher-pitched, leaning more towards thrash than doom. Still, they play well off each other; a ripper solo at the back end of the track is a nice addition, while the stop dead ending is as it should be, out of nowhere, killer. “” Every Fucking Day” is a groove monster, packed with crunching riffs and a bitching rhythm, the dual guitars are killer and accentuate the track particularly when its speeds up, the track really comes into its own when it hits the slow doomy groove and the vocals come snarling in over the top, this is a standout track and one of the best on the album. “Lockdown” is unrelenting, beating you into submission with its drum and guitar combo and an understated bass riff bubbling underneath it all.
The midpoint goes all Slayer riff-wise and runs to the end with some spoken word excerpts foretelling doom. For the riffage alone, this is worth the money. “Abort The Court” is another riff beast; savage to say the least, as Volmert keeps up with the speed Ashes rips it up himself, the guitars once again come to the fore as Volmert and Daniels trade off to a backdrop of Bethel’s incendiary drums and Curtis’s thumping bass, absolutely love this one, and so will you. The full-on sonic assault that is “Living In A Smokescreen” will leave you breathless as the band ramp it up to 100 with a flurry of wailing guitars, pounding drums, a booming bass and some seriously aggro vocals. Volmert’s solos seem to get better as the album progresses; this is right up there, even if it is a tad short. “Ignis Accendere” is Curtis’s ode to Cliff Burton and “Bass Solo Take 1”. “Burn The Sky” is a bass lead banger that begs to be played at full volume, Volmert snarls his way through with a banging backdrop of drums and killer riffs, this then fades away as Curtis takes over on the bass and everything else fades into a fuzzy background as the stoner vibes bleed through, the guitar work from both Volmert and Daniels is off the chain as they riff and solo alongside Curtis’ bass riffing, with so many changes you just get lost in the music and float away until it hits the home stretch. Volmert draws you out of your stupor with his inimitable vocals. This track is a thing of beauty, undoubtedly the best on the album.
The album closes with “Death Is,” a mid-paced banger that has a heavy groove with the low end bringing it big time. The vocals add a creepy air to this one, hissed and snarled ominously, with a bass line that amplifies that feeling. Just as the album began, so it shall finish with ear-splitting feedback. A cracker of an album.
Metalithic Tracklist:
1) Usurper of Flame
2) Sing the Body Electric
3) Every Fucking Day
4) Lockdown
5) Abort the Court
6) Living In A Smokescreen
7) Ignis Accendere
8) Burn Up the Sky
9) Death Is
Review: Conor
Degrave is:
Clyde Daniels ,Guitar, vocals
Dylan Volmert, Guitar, vocals
Isaiah “Cliff” Curtis Bass
Caleb Bethel Drums