Grave Lines
FED INTO THE NIHILIST ENGINE
NEW HEAVY SOUNDS UK DOOM/SLUDGE UNIT HEAD DOWN SOME PICTURESQUE DARK ALLEYS
DEFTLY SIDESTEPPING that all-too-real ‘difficult second album syndrome’, London/ Brighton’s Grave Lines dive further down the rabbit hole to deliver their darkest, most dynamic effort to date. Featuring members of Throne, Sea Bastard, Dead Existence, Dysteria and The Death Letter in their ranks, the foursome have created an epic opus that’s as strong as their pedigree suggests. Comprised of nine cuts, the band cram many moods and ideas into the music, often over the course of a single track, and there’s a wealth of hooks on offer that regularly threaten to embed themselves in your cerebral cortex for an aeon (Failed Skin). While Grave Lines’ second slab of wax is unquestionably an unashamed, unrelenting doom record, there are also flashes of dark folk (Shame Retreat) and 70s prog (Loathe Displace effectively uses synths to tell its ominous tale) to be found, too, as well as a few nods to goth (Self Mutilation By Fire And Stone). Frontman Jake Harding does a sterling job throughout, leading the band onward through the darkness, and his performances – which veer from a paint-stripping roar to a grim baritone and call to mind Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry and Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan – are often utterly spellbinding.
FOR FANS OF: NEUROSIS, KYLESA, ME AND THAT MAN EDWIN MCFEE