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GRAVERIPPER
Radiated Remains EP

Wise Blood (2021)
Rating: 7/10

Following on from their rollicking 2020 EP, Complete Blinding Darkness, Indiana speedsters GraveRipper has returned from their grave-robbing exploits to bash out another bracing effort of blackened speed and fury.

If you have a free 18 minutes, then grab yourself a beer and tune into this toxic thrashfest whereby this clan of cavemen lashes out with six tunes from the Joel Grind academy of alcholocaustic metal.

Burping out those fetid lines of fury is Corey Parks, who also whips up the axe strings and brings out much froth and force alongside fellow rust collectors Keegan Hrybyk (lead guitar), Chris Pilotte (bass) and Jacob Lett (drums).

What I like about this short n’ sharp shock of a record is its accessibility and melody. While very much camped in the old school styles of thrash whereby hardcore leanings mix with old Teutonic frazzling alongside Slayer-ized fire, GraveRipper finds its own style, especially on tracks such as ‘All Life Decays’ and the seething ‘Complete Blinding Darkness’.

Here’s a band that rattles with the best of them, so you’ll hear lots of old Sodom, Destruction et al, but it’s not just about the breakneck speed. There’s a punky attitude on the aforementioned ‘Complete Blinding Darkness’, while ‘Atoms Divide’ shows us how old school fury can be replicated but with extra vim and aggression.

Generally, GraveRipper feel loose yet somehow well measured, the band not overdosing on too many beverages so as to enable their methods of mayhem to not become contaminated. Again I revert back to ‘All Life Decays’ though for that melodic yet well structured, punked-up level of thrash, which is also apparent with ‘King Killer’, a volatile, raw yet melodic thrash assault featuring excellent percussion and that seething vocal sneer.

In a sense, GraveRipper isn’t doing anything outside of the norm’, but their style does sound as if it comes naturally and that’s why Radiated Remains feels so easy on the ear even with its aggressive spits and dynamic, energetic throbs. Essentially then this is an amalgamation of all that’s relevant in today’s thrash climate; hints of the raw and primitive fused with punkier jaunts, but all wrapped in an alcohol-induced thrash framework.

Hopefully, the next GraveRipper outing will be a full-length album so I can look forward to more of those snappy slabs of toxic malice.

Neil Arnold

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