GRUESOME
Twisted Prayers
2018, Relapse
Music that sounds like DEATH played by people who really like DEATH for people who miss DEATH. Bow down for your spiritual healing.
I am sure sure that GRUESOME started as a drunken and awesome idea and, really, there is not much to write about them. The band is comprised of luminaries from the death and grind scenes dialing back, and dialing it in, to pay a faithful tribute to talent gone too soon, screaming bloody gore all the way home. GRUESOME is just plain fun at the same time that the band smacks of hero worship and camp - get off your high horse and enjoy it for what it is: the second coming of DEATH. I am not kidding, this will haunt the chapel of your stereo.
Matt Harvey is a student of Chuck Schuldiner and is an expert in an amazingly precise interpretation (but not quite imitation) of every string bend, every lick, every riff and every groove and lyric Chuck ever wrote and, with GRUESOME, continues the legacy by replication with original panache. It’s truly remarkable that GRUESOME sound so… much like everything Chuck never got the chance to write. Every single song is a love letter not at all lacking in comprehension.
Don’t pull the plug.
The rating is reflective of the outright mastery of the form DEATH themselves hitherto held onto steadfastly through various sounds of perseverance. It is not reflective of anything new, but rather should be taken as an homage to form over function.
4.0 Out Of 5.0
