Grave - Dominion VIII

Swedish Death-metal act Grave returns four years after their seventh album “Fiendish Regression” with an innovative work, replete with contagious melodies, harmonious riffs and female vocalizations.
Have I fooled you? Obviously not, since we all know that Grave is like a good old whiskey and no matter how many years have gone by, its flavour remains unalterable. No matter how many times their line-up has changed throughout their 20^th year career, Grave’s driving force guitarist and vocalist Ola Lindgren has always stood loyal to their Death-Metal origins.
Therefore, besides the facts that “Dominion VIII” is the band’s first work for Swedish label Regain Records, following an entire career made on Century Media and signals the debut of drummer Ronnie Bergerståhl (formerly of Julie Laughs No More and Centinex), the new work dismisses any further explanations.
It doesn’t deviate one inch from what the Swedes had been doing in the last few years and all the ingredients for which Grave are renowned for are present. Slow and doomy riffs intertwined between an old-school, straightforward, fast and brutal riffing. That Swedish groove and dirtiness, gut-wrenching guitar solos, fast and pounding rhythms and aggressive and cavernous vocals. It does tend to sound a bit predictable and boring on some uninspired occasions like for example on opening theme “The World in Darkness” and third track “Deathstorm”. The lifeless production work, a joint effort between Peter Othberg, Ola Lindgren and the rest of the band, although deliberately old-schooled doesn’t bring out the strength of the instruments either. The bass drums are awfully muddy for example and don’t do any justice to the impressive performance of new member Ronnie. Perhaps a new visit to Tommy Tatgren’s Abyss studios wouldn’t be a bad idea in the future.
“Dominion VIII”, most certainty won’t gain Grave any new fans and quite possibly will leave their long-time followers a bit disappointed since their mastermind Ola Lindgren have proved in the past that he’s capable of much more. (5/10)

Band info: www.grave.se
Label info: www.regainrecords.com