Release Date: October 13th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
Grave Speaker - Tracklisting
1.Blood of Old 05:20
2.Earth and Mud 05:34
3.The Bard's Theme 04:32
4.Grave Speaker 06:42
5.Earthbound 06:06
6.Make Me Crawl 05:20
Members
Pol, Joan and Pekiss
Review
Grave Speaker's self-titled debut release opts for a Black Sabbath style of Doomed Out Stoner Metal with a Garage Rock sound buried within the FUZZY grooves. With a street level feeling within the music, Grave Speaker adds a seedy Psych Rock attitude with elements of Uncle Acid based vintage Doom Rock/Metal. The whole sound and feeling of the album moves from 70’s Proto Metal energy to a more free-flowing Classic Rock attitude which appears within the excellent sounding opening track Blood Of Old.
Grave Speaker adds a scuzzy Blues Rock atmosphere which gives the album a more LO-FI sound especially on tracks such as Earth And Mud, The Bard’s Theme and Grave Speaker. The mood is quite melodic despite the muzzled vocals being heard within the background. The LOW & SLOW and Amplifier Distortion of the creative journey that Grave Speaker follows has an QOTSA inspired energy to it all with the sludgy bass sounds that appear and Punk Rock spirit that allows the lyrics to have a more potent message behind them.
The record does does see Grave Speaker playing some wicked sounding FREAKOUT PSYCH ROCK moments where the grooves merge into heavier extended jams that show a different side to Grave Speaker mostly on tracks such as Earth And Mud, The Bard’s Theme and the standout final tracks of Earthbound and Make Me Crawl.
Production values aren’t the best sounding that I’ve come across recently. As the album can be too muffled at times drowning out the vocals in places. Though, that could be Grave Speaker’s original intent for the creative vision of the album. However, that’s a minor complaint for an album that provides dynamite entertainment from start to finish and allow Grave Speaker to make a name for themselves within the Doom/Stoner Metal underground scene.
Words by Steve Howe
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