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GRAVEDÄNCER
Ripping Metal – Demo 1 (2021)

While the whole speeding, satanic Venom / Bathory-esque worship has been done many a time, every now and then a band comes along with such ferocious conviction that I just have to take note.

The latest noisefest of such an example is São Paulo duo Gravedäncer, whose unhealthy blasts of frosty speed and face-melting tirades are sure to see them near the very top when it comes to my best releases of the year list.

Admittedly, the cover of Venom’s ‘Welcome To Hell’, although joyous, is unnecessary and I would have gladly welcomed another original track from the guys, but as it stands this demo still offers four cacophonous rants sure to blow away the cobwebs as well as your ears.

The team behind this belching construction are Gravedäncer (aka Armando Exekutör, Flageladör) on vocals, guitar and bass, and Bitch Hünter (aka Gabriel Cabral, Tyranno / Into The Cave / ex-Flageladör) on drums, who create clattering, billowing frostbites of speeding evil that evoke all manner of old, crusty 80s black thrash outings whether in the form of Hellhammer, old Sodom, Blasphemy, Destruction, Motörhead and, of course, Venom and Bathory.

Vocally, the sneers are certainly recognisable for this oily type of barbed wire puking as the arrogant smirks gnash away at the tin-can drums, while the guitars blaze into the Northern sky and discard shards of rust along the way.

But it’s not all about the need for speed. My favourite track is the mid-paced and almost anthemic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal clomp ‘Magic Circle’; it’s steady rhythms are wonderfully timed clatters hinting at Motörhead and Venom at their finest.

Opener ‘Black Winds Of Doom’ begins like some old bewitching Slayer hammerfist to the skull as the duo craft catchy yet raw slices of menace dredged straight from the ‘How To…’ book of primitive black thrash, while the title track offers no respite from the rancid speedball playing. ‘Ripping Metal’ may be riddled with clichés, but I can’t get enough of this song, finding myself constantly overdosing on the short, sharp and downright lethal strains as another spiralling solo drifts, almost without harm, out of the gutter of clashing instruments.

Picture blazing fires amidst sniping cold winds, then imagine black ice forming upon great spikes of rust and succumb to the hellish battering of ‘Evil Spell’, where a Celtic Frost-type twisted riff lurches from the blackness and twists like some entangled serpent as again the vocal spits cough up diabolical tales.

Let’s call this heap of thrash “black heavy metal”, a sonic tour de force of catchy yet rasping bone grating which exists to drag us through the year. Slap this one on and brace yourself for a party with Satan.

For those interested, Ripping Metal – Demo 1 is available from Helldprod Records here.

Neil Arnold

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