My first proper exposure to UK death metal staples Grave Miasma came at one of the band’s first live performances. By 2009, they had outgrown their original moniker (R.I.P. Goat Molestör) under which they’d released a now impossibly rare split with their spiritual brothers Necros Christos and made steady headway in underground circles beginning with 2003’s Ancient Barbaric Assault demo. That night, smeared with black paint and clad in leather, the four lads jammed into the dingy basement of a goth club in Birmingham alongside fellow UK extremists Cruciamentum (with whom they share members) and Scythian, then proceeded to unleash hell. I was blown away then, and now, years later, they’ve continued to impress not only me but the thousands of others who have found themselves captivated by the band’s almost uncanny knack for morbid metal of death. Profound Lore has been courting the quartet for years, and are understandably chuffed to be co-releasing Grave Miasma’s debut LP, shouldering the glorious burden with the band’s longtime allies Sepulchral Voice.**
Odori Sepulcrorum is the product of years of slow, steady work. The band has been in no rush to toe death metal’s party line and bang out three releases a year. Rather, they’ve chosen to approach this first full-length with extraordinary care and precision. It shows, whether in the fluttering scales and fiery solo that distinguish “έσχατος”, the eerie strangeness of album closer “Ossuary”, or the ominous interlude that surfaces near the album’s end to ring in the serpentine sitar melody on “Seven Coils”. Vocalist and guitarist Y is of Israeli descent and has always harbored a keen interest in Middle Eastern music, and the band’s unorthodox treatment of those ancient scales alongside various traditional and unorthodox instruments slightly echoes Necros Christos’ approach (though is conducted with a considerably lighter touch). Hammond organ, Tibetan gongs, flute, and the aforementioned sitar are woven into the songs themselves rather than isolated into interludes or standout passages, and lend an air of otherworldly evil to what might otherwise seem as standard compositions at first glance. Of all the current death metal bands clamoring for recognition, Grave Miasma certainly deserve a deeper look. There is more to them than what they may initially seem.
A reverence for the theory and practice of death imbues the band’s aesthetic and presentation, channeling Teitanblood and Dead Congregation as often as they emulate Drowned or Morbid Angel. Occult leanings are nothing new in this arena, but Grave Miasma take their studies seriously, littering their songs with arcane references and esoteric symbolism as well as the expected odes to decay and damnation. The recording is drenched in delay and reverb, summoning up a suffocating black fog of atmosphere to envelop the clever arrangements and dynamic tempos, and drummer D (Y's brother, who's also in Adorior and Cruciamentum) brings the songs to life with his inventive, powerful arrangements. Searing guitar work from Deströyer 666 & Cruciamentum shredder R blazes atop A’s subterranean death grooves and tears through the vocalist’s rumbling, guttural invocations. Despite the sonic extremity on display, the songs themselves are catchy and invite a visceral reaction-- I dare you to listen to this without nodding along to the burly mid-tempo riff on “Ascension Eye”. When witnessed live, the reaction becomes more violent.
The unavoidable truth is that while many of the modern death metal bands have carried on plugging away, dredging up bargain basement Azagthoth riffs, and listening to Onward to Golgotha on repeat, these four Englishmen have focused their energies into creating something that is, simply, better. The quality of songwriting found on Odori Sepulcrorum stands a considerable height above every other death metal album released this year, and has cemented its creators’ fate as one of the genre’s most important new bands.
