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GORE GRAVE
Compulsion To Kill EP

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 5/10

This is the sort of extreme death metal I can love or hate, American one-man project Gore Grave bringing that overt masculine belligerence. Vocally it’s rather irritating, the rants – and all instruments – being the work of “K” who barks his way through six tracks that grate from the off with the squalling title track with its unrelenting pace, hammering percussion and general insistence.

‘Massive Cranial Trauma’ flows exactly the same way, not quite in a tech-death way but continuously pulverising, while ‘Dead Of Night’ – my favourite chunk on offer – brings a bit of a mid-tempo melody, although the drums (are they programmed?) act in annoying fashion.

If you like stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, but even more aggressive then Gore Grave is the sort of offering that will quench the thirst. It’s a shame then that the EP isn’t riddled with more of those melancholic solos. Instead, we get assaulted from every angle by the generic aesthetics.

As ‘Forced To Watch’ comes grinding in on further percussive epilepsy I’m reminded of California’s Deeds Of Flesh, another band that bores me rigid but at times comically entertains due to its vocal expressions, and that’s where I stand with Gore Grave.

For all of its compulsions to kill I’m somewhat nullified by it, not crushed by its power, just irritated by its teenage angst. Its constant urges to be hostile in a scene over-saturated with similar designs means that this EP just drifts by as a formulaic, over-done tirade.

I don’t expect “K” to alter his methods and I applaud his effort at creating a brutal death metal experience… it’s just not for me. However, I’m sure that there’ll be plenty who will form a mosh pit in their bedroom for it and play along.

Neil Arnold

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