Band: GRAVEWARDS
Country: Greece
Title: Subconscious Lobotomy
Label: Independent
Year: 2017
Style: Death Metal

Review:
You know the Carlsberg commercials ending with "probably the best beer in the World", right? Well, Gravewards is probably the best damn new Death Metal band name in the World, that's for sure, what's more suggestive for a Death Metal band than a name like this? Well, Gravewards come from Greece and they have only 2 years of activity so far, so this is no surprise their debut material, the one I'm talking about here, is a demo, a demo tape to be more specific; Subconscious Lobotomy features only 4 tracks, but it lasts for more than 20 minutes, so we're dealing with some pretty long compositions for an old-school Death Metal band. This is what we used to say in the '90's semi-technical Death Metal heavily influenced by bands like Benediction, Bolt Thrower or even Obituary, mostly mid-tempo groovy rhythms spiced with a few faster parts, with guitar riffs balancing between catchy, repetitive and semi-technical (meaning a bit more intricate than the average, but not as complicated as a Prog Death Metal line though). The vocals are the most expressive here, the center element in Gravewards' music, very cruel, organic, angry and visceral I'd say, the band can build solid, memorable compositions around these vocals, they have what it takes on the instrumental part, too. All in all I like this debut, maybe a bit more than I was expecting, and as I see it now, the band has a bright future if they continue in the same manner. The tapes are limited to 300 hand-numbered copies but I have to say I find the cover artwork and booklet too blury, everyone will have problems reading the lyrics.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 7.5/10

Contact:
facebook.com/Gravewards