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GRAVERIPPER
Seasons Dreaming Death

Wise Blood (2023)
Rating: 8/10

With this sort of band name and striking cover art you would hope to have your head blown off, and to some extent this release does. After a brace of hostile EPs – Complete Blinding Darkness (2020) and Radiated Remains (2021) – Indiana, Indianapolis-based combo GraveRipper finally spits forth its sonic full-length debut, a blitzkrieg of deadly thrash metal that isn’t afraid to veer towards icy Norwegian black metal.

Ten snappy cuts are delivered as razor slashes to the face, but for me it is the slower, colder angles which entice me the most. To an extent these blackened, Mayhem-esque bouts of glinting frost prevent the album from becoming a generic blur, a shame then that such freezing seasons don’t emerge enough.

After a few blasts, Seasons Dreaming Death, although boiling with hostility, becomes a bit samey as it channels Sodom circa Agent Orange (1989). However, it’s still a strikingly aggressive album where the rattling bass duels with the barbaric guitar for attention, and the vocals of Corey Parks are persistent rancid barks that cut through the seething tides.

For me, the standout track is ‘Ripped And Torn Apart’ which merges those hyper thrash elements with a finale of stark, sinister oozing. Elsewhere, ‘Premeditated’ boasts a belligerent punk aesthetic, as does ‘Red Skies’ which comes equipped with an extra dollop of melody, while ‘Only Coldness’ is total black metal sneering.

This is a whirling dervish of an outing that sets its stall out early with the raging ‘Into The Grave’ and continues its path of destruction. A touch more variety with its striking would have been welcomed but this remains a toxic holocaust of a debut.

Neil Arnold

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