Death is June - Cave Grave :" Unfurling Putridity"

Asheville death metal trio Cave Grave prove themselves capable on "Unfurling Putridity" of stirring a great deal of darkness from the cauldron of the genre. At first it seemed like it was going to be business as usual, but they summoned a throbbing groove that is impressive. If you are a regular reader here, you will be aware of my formula when it comes to reviewing extreme bands. It involves not placing too much stock in the first song as it is going to impress you with sheer heaviness. It is not until the second song that you are going to begin to see if they can in fact write a song or not. 

That answer is not clearly revealed in the second song as it bangs and slams with drums at a violent pace. It is however better than "Dementia Riddled" which sounds like they are just throwing their instruments down the stairs, though the drummer is still able to keep the double bass going. There is some grind-core in their DNA as the eponymous song is less than a minute. It is also a heavily distorted piece of hot garbage, but it only has to be endured for a minute. 'Only the Infinite Remains" moves them in a better direction with more varied tempos amid the crushing weight of the blown out guitar tone. 

"the Cells Are Nearly Dead From Overgrowth" is effective, but finds them getting mired down into a sound with nothing to redeem them but sheer heaviness. They go to the well with this too many times and it begins to sound the same.  Thankfully the songs are short. When things are drawn out on the last song there is at least more of a doom vibe so it's not all the feral blasting to nowhere. I will round this down to a 6. If heaviness is all you desire then they have you covered, if you want songs look else where. 

5.3