Gravesend : "Gowanus Death Stomp"

 This is the second album by the New York band who is aspiring to capture the dark underbelly of the city in their music. This trio bashes out crushingly heavy music that could be blackened death metal, with grind core tendencies. They lash out on the second song with a more feral fury than they did on the first song. It is a powerful sonic statement, but I am hoping that heavy is not the only tool at their disposal , because I will be bored by the next song if the dynamics do not shift. Most of these songs do not break the three minute mark so it is not like this kind of assault' is being dragged on. There is more of a death metal buzz to the riff leading into "Festering in Squalor". 

There is a more thrashing feel to "Code of Silence". The vocals stay at the same dry mid ranged rasp. It is produced in a raw that sounds like it's coming from a blown p/a speaker. When they let the riffs groove a bit it works in their favor. The title track kind of works off a similar groove, it almost sounds like the same song. It feels like a great deal of this album is about being homeless. "Streets of Destitution" finds more double bass hammered atop everything , but they attack you in a very similar manner as they did at the beginning of the album. "Make Bones" is another one that blasts at you in a more frantic grind core like manner than black metal. Though they do tap into a more blackened feel with the sonic charge of "Crown of Tar". Yes, it's intense, but not breaking any new ground in songwriting for the genre.

At this point in the album the rule around here that "cool riffs alone does not a good song make" hits hard, as that is all that really separates "30 Caliber Pesticide' from the previous song. Though it is more than the rush grind-core riff propelling "the Third Rail" has to offer. "Mortsafe" makes more out the riffs for the gut wrench death metal it offers. But the vocals are very monotonous at this point . They go into a blasting mode that forces me to go back and give another listen to "Lupara Bianca" in order to hear what happened. "Carried By Six" is another round of raw feral gnashing of teeth that explodes in another flurry of motion. Their drummer is a monster as someone playing this sort of thing would have to be, and is perhaps the most redeeming aspect of their sound. Things slow to a doomy pace midway into the song but it is too little too late.  I will give this album a 7, the vocal grate on me after time , but they have a impressive sound that is dense and dark. 20 Buck Spin is dropping this in late October.