Reviews list for Grave - You'll Never See... (1992)

My introduction to Swedish death metallers Grave came through their 1991 debut album "Into The Grave" back in the early 1990's but, while I certainly found it to be an enjoyable listen, I don't think it's ever been a record that I felt like returning to all that often, potentially because there are simply better examples of the classic Swedish BOSS HM-2 pedal-driven death metal sound out there. Grave's 1992 sophomore album was a different story though. Neuropath vocalist Mark Wangmann tossed me a dubbed cassette version of it in early 1993 &, even though Grave hadn't altered their sound all that much from "Into The Grave", they'd completed some notable improvements all the same & I immediately found it to be a little more addicitve. "You'll Never See..." would go on to receive regular spins from me that year & I still regard it as Grave's best album to this day. Strangely though... no Metal Academy rating from me as yet. Let's see what we can about that, shall we?

The most obvious differentiator between Grave's first two albums is the overall professionalism of the package. The self-produced record certainly possesses that classic Sunlight Studios sound although it's a touch cleaner than many of its competitors & never at the expense of being crushingly heavy. I think this approach has worked an absolute treat &, when combined with some improved levels of musicianship, it enables Grave to sound like a well-oiled machine. Some may view the simplicity of the riff & song structures as a negative but I find that there's a catchiness to the song-writing & an energy in the performances that enables the band to overcome the basic compositional work. The ultra-deep death growls of front man Jorgen Sandstrom are the clear focal point of "You'll Never See..." which can only be a good thing as he does a stellar job of his chosen craft. The use of those bouncy 1-2 beats that Ben & I have always struggled with a bit is still evident but it can be forgiven when I find myself mouthing the words & humming the riffs.

The tracklisting is very consistent with no weak songs included amongst the eight on offer. The album is a touch top heavy though with the majority of the best material residing on the A side. The outstanding "Morbid Way To Die" is the only genuine classic in my opinion but I also find the title track, "Obsessed" & blasphemous closer "Christ(in)sanity" to be excellent examples of the Swedish death metal sound. The lack of much creative ingenuity was always gonna prevent "You'll Never See..." from threatening the upper echilons of the genre but it's a damn fine meat-&-potatoes death metal release nonetheless & won't leave any Dismember, Entombed or Bloodbath fans disappointed. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that it's still Grave's best album to this day.

It's quite difficult to review You'll Never See without making it sound redundant. After all, it doesn't really add anything to what multiple other Swedish death metal bands (such as Entombed, Dismember, Carnage etc.) were doing around the same time. In fact, it doesn't do anything that wasn't present on their own debut album Into the Grave. But that doesn't mean it's not an entertaining listen, even if it can't really be considered an important album in the development of extreme metal.

You'll Never See contains 8 solid crushing tracks with a bunch of top-notch riffs driving them along. The production is a bit cleaner than the intense debut album which gives the riffs a little bit more emphasis. The vocals are extremely guttural and while Jörgen Sandström may not show much in the way of variety, his performance is effective for this style of music. The drumming is adequate although he tends to fall back into one-two land a bit too often. While it's clear that Grave didn't do anything ground-breaking with this release, it is most certainly fall of dark atmosphere and enough quality tracks to make it worth picking up. Highlights for me are You'll Never See, Morbid Way to Die, Severing Flesh and my personal favourite Now and Forever.