Gravestone - Sickening

GRAVESTONE - Sickening (RAW SKULL Rekordz CD 2018)

In 2017 Gravestone's debut EP "Rotten Kill" appeared from the cemetery fog - excellent, top quality old school death metal from Sweden. In 2018 Gravestone brought us "Sickening", a similarly fantastic debut album. And what can I write... If you happened to read my review of "Rotten Kill", then you know that I absolutely loved it and now I can only repeat all words, which I used then. "Sickening" is a top quality Swedish death metal effort, filled with killer Entombed - esque riffs, Dismember - esque harmonies and generally it's one of those albums, which hit me like crazy to become a favourite right away. 

I do admit that this album sounds alike to dozens of other records. It probably doesn’t have anything what would really distinguish Gravestone from a bunch of other Swedish or not Swedish, but Swedish sounding death metal bands. For some it may be a major reason why not to give a damn about Gravestone. For me it doesn't matter. There's quality, which you will not hear in most of similar bands! Gravestone has RIFFS and killer MELODIES! They also have GROOVE! When I listen to such "By the Knife", I almost get goose skin, so good it sounds. It's definitely my favourite song here. Generally, Gravestone uses a simple recipe for their music. Short, yet memorable and insanely catchy songs, with rather simplistic structure, they are almost foreseeable, but effective. But do you except anything else from Swedish death metal band? If you want it to be kept as traditional as possible, Gravestone is here to serve you the right thing. 

Sure, some songs are better, some a bit more average. And there's one track, which I would happily skip at all ("Behead the Bastard"). But with only half an hour of duration, this album has no chance to bore me. And its energy and powerful sound will definitely cause a serious hearing damage, if I keep playing this CD loud. And loud it must be played! 

Standout tracks: "Rotten Kill", "By the Knife", "Fucking Your Corpse in Hell", "In the Valley of Coffins" 

Verdict: 75/100