GRAVE VIOLATOR - Back To The Cult

Release date March 22/19 (Reaper Metal Productions)

With a name like Grave Violator you'd expect some seriously caustic stuff to burst forth from the speakers, both from audio, as well as subject matter, perspectives. Gleefully meeting expectations with the subtly titled 'Forced Flesh', the Finns take you to the cemetery to listen to them sing of consummating their relationship with a decayed mate beside some newly upturned earth. Ah, young love!

Musically very much a hard charging black/thrash concoction, the band races through riffs like prostitutes through condoms, weaving and bobbing its way between grave markers. Bassist/vocalist J.I. oversees the deviant excess atop a choice crypt, spewing out the perverted tales with a lascivious scowl and wink.

But what's this two-thirds the way through? A reflective blues ditty no less ... perhaps the boys had decided to clean themselves up and join civil society. Um, no. The title track immediately follows sending a speed metal signal that that was only a short respite, likely used to recharge their blackened hearts and scrotums. Back to the cult indeed.

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