Cryptborn, Into the Grasp of the Starving Dead
Man, I don’t think these dudes could have chosen a better moniker or style of death metal to play. The shit that oozes from Into the Grasp of the Starving Dead not only sounds like it was played from the depths of some deep, dank crypt, but it damn well feels it too.
Rusty, buzzing chainsaw guitars fill the air immediately with album opener “A Feast For the Grave,” a relatively short intro that let’s you know exactly what you’re getting on this album. For the next 22 minutes or so, you’re auditory faculties will be dragged slowly through a bleak and barren landscape that’s been razed by thick, single-minded riffing, lurching tempos and thick, rumbling bass. Sure, Into the Grasp of the Starving Dead has an old school Swedish death metal backbone, but the rest of the burly frame that’s slowly rotting from that skeletal structure also packs in some doom for good measure.
“Gift of Rotten Flesh” stomps on the accelerator as best it can with churning riffs and quicker tempo, but the band dos well to stick with a few moments of slower moving, heaving death metal. Honestly, it’s what really sets this album apart from the recent rash of retro-Swedish death metal that’s been flooding my inbox lately. It’s a damn good song that shoves you head first into the more groove-fueled title track, complete with Entombed inspired riffing. I can tell you this, though, I do love the bass work on this album. The distant vocal presentation throughout the album only serve to accentuate the buried-six-feet-under feel of the album.
“A Nebulus Parting” and “Rotten Gates of Heaven” are enough together to raise the dead, unleashing their slow moving avalanche of brain-thirsting hunger upon the land. Each song crawls and lurches, but also inject enough up-tempo bursts to keep things interesting. The final two track on the album also carry the band’s crushing, atonal riffs through to the grisly end. Album closer, “Atonement from Hell” fades in with some decent drum work and a memorable series of riffs as the growling, decaying vocals arrive. It’s a hell of a song to end this short album on and one of my favorite tracks.
Into the Grasp of the Starving Dead isn’t just another stone to throw upon the heap of old school Swedish death metal pile. It certainly captures the keys to that style, but these Finnish hellions manage to have created something that stands out amongst the crowd. As short as it is, the album certainly gets your attention — much like a zombie gnawing your your exposed leg as you try to crawl from it’s clutching grasp.