Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Grave Miasma - Endless Pilgrimage (2016)
"Odori Sepulcrorum" took forever to click with me. It was obvious that there was a beast of serious intent in there but for so long the swampy, squally chaos of GM's sound took over and I never felt I could get to the true centre of the band. Now I am all grown up and understand complicated things better I own the entire back catalogue of Grave Miasma and instantly dipped in for "Endless Pilgrimage" upon release.
It starts with what sounds like a sitar, before crashing into the now familiar occult atmospheric death metal that we all know to be Grave Miasma. The demented vocals are instantly recognisable as they babble and growl their way through the incantations and hexes that the band cast with each song. Yet there are also some new bits/elements going on as well as the experimentation with middle eastern sounding instruments there is also an overall feeling of the sound being a tad more accessible than previous outings. Now, before the murk loving masses amongst you decry "Endless Pilgrimage" a failure for using more obvious (yet by no means anymore predictable) melodies just hang fire. What Grave Miasma do this time around is take all the recognisable filth, murk and deluge in the weight of their sound and form within it a spiralling melodic edge that is shaped into some menacing bends and grooves or sinister leads .
They open track two, "Utterance of the Foulest Spirit" with a slow picked intro of evil intent before unleashing their monstrous churn upon the listener. The main riff is perfectly traceable beneath the silt yet the track soon twists away into frantic DM territory before you can say "chop n` change", then before you know it we are floating through some dark atmospheric passage before - in complete Morbid Angel worship - we get hit with a frenzied sonic attack.
"Purgative Circumvolution" begins much more frenzied than it's predecessors but quickly settles down into a familiar dirgey plod and murk. I would compare it to a ritual in which the victim already knows their fate yet are forced to wait agonisingly for the end to come as their tormentor teases them with the pace of the ceremony. From scathing sonics to blistering blastbeats, it is all on show on this track.
"Glorification of the Impure" is as the title suggests a turgid affair, thick with the mire of the "impurity" it celebrates. The lead work here is one hell of a party piece too. Closing track "Full Moon Dawn" is an absolutely perfect ending to proceedings. The vocals seem more ritualistic with their demented chanting style, the guitars seem to blend perfectly into a black looming wall of dark perfection supported all the way by the superb plonk of the bass and thunder of the drums. When the track slows down it is you stepping back and appreciating all that has been lain before you for your auditory pleasure, before it tears off again building itself ever higher, ever darker. It is the closing act that brings down the curtain on another piece of brilliant death metal, dripping with occult styling and full of evidence that this is a band that are still growing. Growing not just because they use a fancy instrument but growing because the sound and trademark style of the band is still very much present on this, yet it is also crystal clear that they have developed as musicians and songwriters also.