Gravewürm - Infernal Minions (2013)

Primacy is a double edged sword in black metal. When implemented efficaciously, the reductionist riffing and raw production standards lend themselves directly to a crushing, satisfying or evil atmosphere that has unquestionable birthed a number of the genre's classics. Groups like Hellhammer, Beherit and Darkthrone never thrived on complexity or technical merit, but unfortunately these years there are a lot of bands who seem to lazily follow in the wake of such a sound, thinking that derivative, umpteenth-generational riff recycling and a raspy vocal alone seem to warrant some imply some underground heroism. I won't lie: I have often thought such of Gravewürm, an American band which has been outright 'bad', but certainly fits the classification despite their 20+ years of obscurity. Sometimes when I hear their music, I want to buy the guys a beer; after all, I, too can succumb to admiration of such unbridled, stripped mayhem. At other times, I just want to claw off my own ears due to the utter banality of their inauspicious songwriting...

That said, Infernal Minions, the groups ninth studio full-length since the turn of the century, maintains a few curious characteristics which piqued my interest despite itself, and overall more enjoyable than the last disc of theirs I heard (2010's Blood of the Pentagram). The foremost of these would be the voluminous, simplistic structures of the guitar riffs here, which very often felt more reminiscent of dirty, epic heavy metal than the morbid grooves and tremolo picked patterns one often associates with the style. Other than references to the late 80s/early 90s transformation of Bathory, which were already present on Gravewürm's earlier material, I picked up hints of 80s Cirith Ungol ("Beast of the Abyss"), Manowar, and Brocas Helm style bulky chords set at solid, middle tempo. Not taken to the level of Darkthrone's The Underground Resistance, but more of a direct skin graft onto black metal's aesthetic skeleton. Some of the deep end chugging reeked of Vanity/Nemesis era Celtic Frost, and then there were other moments where you could feel a clear punk/hardcore sensibility to the flow of the chords, which was of course an influence upon the older works that Gravewürm seems to carry the torch for. Occasionally they'll pawn off some simple melodic notes (as in "Mistress of Blood and Fire") along to the belly of the rhythm guitar, and I also detected a major doom vibe in a good portion of the eight tracks, so much so that labels of 'black doom' or 'black/heavy/doom' might befit this record just as well as a straighter black tag.

The guitars are quite loud and meaty here, driving most of the material's momentum, since they and the vocals tend to choke off many of the drum frequencies. Don't get me wrong, you can hear the kicks and snares clearly enough, but it definitely seems like they were trying to drop these chords and palm mutes on the listener like hammers used to brain livestock. The bass is rarely a presence unto itself, but you'll always detect the gross distortion hovering under the rhythm guitars. Eerie keyboards pads are used a few times throughout the album to supplement riff sequences, perhaps too directly, the one exception being "Dominion of Souls", where in union with the drudging chords it creates a creepy, crawling vibe that was probably the single most memorable passage of the whole 35 minutes. Unfortunately, even there, when they've got a relatively chilling thing going, the songwriting is dragged out, repetitive and dull. The payoff happens in the first section of the song and then nothing interesting happens afterwards. Also, I felt as if Funeral Grave's impetuous imp-growls felt like they belonged to someone younger; regardless, they aren't exactly a highlight of Infernal Minions, barking along in rather predictable positions across the mundane riffs.

And that's really the low point to the album: these are all pretty effortless guitar progressions not only fail to provide any surprises, but also fail to leave the evil impression I'd expect out of songs named "I Die for Hell" or "Nocturnal Inquisition", since they rarely evoke much of an unsettling, minor scale structure. Infernal Minions is a fraction warmer and bolder sounding than Blood of the Pentagram, and clearly more of a compelling direction to explore, yet the riffs feel as if they're just the first ideas that came to mind during a jam section, rather than meticulously plotted and inspirational. I didn't hate this album at all, but it'd be dishonest to state that this held up even after the first listen, much less the 3-4 rotation minimum I demand of myself when preparing for a critique. I didn't even care for the Kam Lee cover art, which is a pretty amateurish representation of some evil wizard or dignitary seated on a subterranean throne of skulls and severed baby heads, with cheesy red specters flitting about the cavernous backdrop. Frankly, I though the classic images they used on older albums like Dark Souls of Hell and Under the Banner of War were better, even if they were often lifted from pretty obvious masters of olde. Ultimately , while I want to like Gravewürm, I've yet to forge anything but a fleeting tether to the songs they evoke.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/grave.wurm.1

Gravewürm - Blood of the Pentagram (2010)

After 20 years of debauchery, Gravewürm could well be considered an institution of USBM, cranking out a slew of demos in their first decade and then 'going pro' in the ensuing 21st century. Their first four albums were released through Barbarian Wrath, and since that point they've been floating around through a number of imprints. Blood of the Pentagram, adorned in one of the most enduring (if a mite generic) cover images of the year, is their 7th full-length, and it has been snapped up by Hells Headbangers, a move that really makes a lot of sense, since much of the label's roster practices a similar philosophy of no nonsense old school hybrids of extremity.

Likely you've already gathered the impression that Gravewürm create blasphemous black metal, and this is the closest proximity to their sound, though they also incorporate elements of thrash, death and doom. The compositions are extremely simplistic, focusing on a narrow range of riffs and rhythms that attempt to bludgeon you with blasphemy, and almost all of them involve some slower thrashing riff with driving rock drums, over which Zyklon gargles devil's blood with a constipated rasp. I suppose a fair comparison would be Venom, since a lot of the chosen chords seem to reflect the primal, dirty feel of those days, only stretched out a little as if to increase their menace and weight, but in songs like "Deeper Dungeons", there is this glorious, Bathory bombast to the material, though there are no Vikings or Norse gods to be found here. I'd even risk a further parallel to Bolt Thrower, but this is largely cerebral in the way some of the specific guitar riffs roll out as if across a depressive, eternally grim battlefield.

I'm not inherently opposed to such simple tactics in writing, of course, and through the years I've gotten quite absorbed in a number of similar acts, but I felt like there was something lacking here. It might be the energy, which seems sluggish if oppressive. Perhaps the riffs were given just a little too much room to breathe, not offering a standout variety of chords. The band is usually functioning at a laconic, warlike pace as in "Deeper Dungeons" or "Lycanthropic", or a steady, thrashing terminus with "Grave", "Brought Before the Altar" or "Hordes of Hell". Unfortunately, they do not greatly succeed in either category, so it falls to the few tracks that reach an even more drawn out, atmospheric pace to pull the weight, and there are just too few of these. "Necromance" might be fiendishly fundamental, but the spry, daemonic notes create a diamond in fleshy rough, and "Two Chords for Charon" adds in a keyboard for a somber necrotic delight of blackish/doom. Finale "The Sign of a Dark Destiny" also forces a slow nod of approval through the spine, but even this trio of exceptions is not wholly involving.

Blood of the Pentagram is raw and lo-fi, and doesn't dabble in crass pretension, so there are likely to be fans out there that will appreciate it just as is, but I cannot count myself as one of them. The songs seem to meander along with very little thought behind them, and though the simplicity itself is not a negative factor, the lack of atmosphere evoked by the compositions seems a critical obstacle, one I could not hurdle even after numerous listens. There are 12 tracks here, 12 stabs in the dark, but only 3-4 of these even land a scratch, and nothing worthy of stitches. As some preamble or accompaniment to a ritual sacrifice, perhaps the raw accoutrement of the writing would suffice, but I just found Gravewürm all too forgettable this time around.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/gravewurm