Graceless : "Icons of Ruin"

 

The fourth album by this melodic death metal band from the Netherlands captures the groove and hooky songwriting that brought death to the mainstream in the 90s. There is a daqrker undercurrent running through the mood, that seems to be steeped in making anthem that are at least against religion, are they Satanic well in that sense, but I am alwyas hesitant to consider a band Satanic unless they come out and claim their infernal alliengence as most of the time it's just obligatory heavy metal nonsens. "Sanctified Slaughter" is very deliberate in its chug and takes an almost death-doom pace.

The vocals maintain a lower death metal rasp, with the drummer maintaining tight restraint to prevent the songs from feeling rushed. This allows the music to serve the riffs' groove more effectively. At times, they do speed into more of a tremolo-picked buzz, but it reminds me more of early Unleashed. "Lash Me to My Painful Death" seems to be about a necromance. It is the first song that really marks the more melodic direction the album takes. The riff is pretty creepy. As far as newer bands that are making this brand of classic death metal, Frozen Soul is the only band that comes to mind, though the new NITE album has more of a classic metal feel, and it is this album's main competition this year. But the grooves are next level on "Night of the Slain."  

"Hardening of the Heart" has more emotion conveyed in the vocals while the guitars sit back to set the stage. "Ungodliness" almost sounds just like "Domination" era Morbid Angel on the verses, but the eerie chords that ring out give these guys more of their own identity. "Rise of the Blackest Sun" spins off of this vibe and takes it in a more Entombed-like direction. To the band's credit, the songs all have their own identity and there has not been much of a chance to lose track in a blur of brutal sound as every thing is done with such deliberate intention. This is also an apt description of the kind of powerful chug applied to " A King in the Filth" that has a more Slayer-like riff that comes in to get the pit started. 

There is a more melancholy melody moving " Beneath Starless Skies"; this serves as another example of what makes this band work so well as they invoke a wider scope of emotional weight than just anger and aggression, which tend to give death metal a one-dimensional sonic hue. The last song finds them conforming more closely to what their expectations of death metal are. I will give this album a 9.5, it's one of the year's best death metal releases for sure, lets see how it grows on me. 

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