Graveyard - Into the Mausoleum (2008)Release ID: 34367
Review Draft for The Horde this month sees me taking on Spanish death metallers Graveyard and their debut EP Into the Mausoleum which is actually just their first demo from 12 months earlier as far as I can make out. I am genuinely unsure if this is re-recorded or even remixed in all honesty as the production job is far from top notch. From the start there is a very Swedish vibe to the tempos on this record. Not that it sounds particularly Swedish in terms of the crunch of that guitar as such, but you will still get those Dismember and Entombed tropes from the off with a healthy dose of Bolt Thrower for good measure also. Certainly at this early stage in their career there is an Autopsy-like clumsiness to proceedings, suggesting that some accomplishment to the playing was yet to be realised.
At a shade under 24 minutes it is hard to come to much of a conclusion on Graveyard based on this one release. They certainly make all the right noises for any fan of death metal to be endeared to them but with two tracks being instrumentals and another being a cover of Death's Zombie Ritual , I would suggest this is not a fair representation of what the band no doubt have become in the fifteen years that have passed since this was released. When they are in full flow on the four tracks that have lyrics and their own content they are capable of delivering some pretty decent if not cluttered arrangements. The immaturity does hold them back though and that production job is not kind to the drums in particular which sound like a mere afterthought in the mix.
They have a fair crack at that Death cover but do little justice to it whilst managing to avoid massacring it overall. Looking at their scores on future albums they notch up some decent praise over the years so it may be worth me taking a punt on a later album to see how good these guys turned out in later years but for now I shall just note Into the Mausoleum as being a solid if unremarkable start for them.
