Sludgy death metallers Grave Hex have brought upon the “Vermian Death”.
Formed in Helsinki in March 2024 by Matti (Drums & Vocals), Miikka (Guitar & Vocals), and Martti (Guitar & Vocals) to create a dark, brooding & all right dirty hybrid of death metal, death doom & sludge that creates a refreshing take on the Finnish sound.
Their debut album “Vermian Death” is a full-throttle attack on the listener, & i wouldn’t have it any other way.
Opener “Steeping Master Worm Flesh” is like a wrecking ball to the face from the first riff. The huge mammoth buzzsaw-like guitar tone the guys have created for this album is huge. With Matti Vainionpää’s thunderous drums right for the first track, it’s heavy, punishing & downright putrid.
With a swinging guitar riff that instantly hummable & gets you headbanging straight away, the band also switches it up with the speed & gives us that Autopsy style fast, slow & even slower school of songwriting. Steeped in a punk DNA through the grotesque filter of death metal, this band has hit the nail on the head with a great sound.
If you ever what Motorhead would sound like through an HM2 pedal, “Vultural Scourge” is a fast, under three-minute banger. All lean, no fat, this track is a total blast. With a great chugging rhythm through the track that gives it a tank-like feel, but little moments like a spazzed out heavy whammy bar lead section that Kerry King would approve of. This track is just a great, simple banger that gives you everything you could want. Dripping & oozing brutality…
With its sonically eerie & mesmerising clean opening, “Endless Impossible Constructs” feels like a real journey of a track. Soaked in reverb, its Solomon guitar introduces us to the main riff & at the right moment, the band hits hard. This slowly climbing first opening part is stunning but ferocious. Leaning more on the death doom side, the vocals on this section reverberated in your ears like echoes in a cave. A great performance from Matti & co on this track. It might just be my favourite on the album. Even with its over five-minute run time, the band keep every second of interest with the tracks midpace power & if you stick with it, the track closes most satisfyingly.
Closing track “Halls Beneath The Primal Mere” is a culmination of all the styles that Grave Hex use, its fast punk section, slow & drawn out doom soaked moments & these catchy riffs all together in this near six minute epic feels like the perfect wall to close the album. Thanks to mastering being helmed by Greg Wilkinson (Autopsy, Static Abyss) at Earhammer Studios, this album’s production sounds huge & you honestly wouldn’t think this was a band’s debut. As this last track reaches its closing moments, it’s the most chaotic, suffocating & crazy the album has been. You need to stick around until the end; this one is phenomenal.
With the band only forming in 2024 & “Vermian Death” being Grave Hex’s first effort, I’m blown away by their ability to have already carved out their sound, solid production, & give us seven tracks of different feels & create an album that flows throughout. Finnish death metal always has a legacy attached to its name & genre, but I can safely say Grave Hex would make any of the forefathers proud with their first album, & I cannot wait to see what career these guys are gonna have because it’s gonna be a big one!
Review: Joseph Mitchell
Vermian Death is out on August 22nd, 2025, via Night Terrors Records (cassette) and Cavernous Records (CD).
Tracklist:
I. Steeping Master Worm Flesh (3:25)
II. Vultural Scourge (2:23)
III. Den Of Evil (4:13)
IV. Endless Impossible Constructs (5:13)
V. Vermian Death (3:59)
VI. Pungent Pulsating Pools Of Blood (2:33)
VII. Halls Beneath The Primal Mere (5:34)
Line-up:
H. – Bass
M. – Vocals, guitars
M. – Vocals, guitars
M. – Drums, vocals
GRAVE HEX
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Night Terrors Records
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https://night-terrors-records.
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Cavernous Records
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