ALBUM REVIEW: Nedgravd – Ascension

A couple of months ago, Headsplit Records unleashed the debut album of a Norwegian band called Nedgravd. Promising the most evil of death metal in the vein of Infester, Molested, Imprecation, and such, this will not be an easy listen…

Bellowing riffs erupt into a cavernous onslaught of malevolent evil with thunderous drums and horrific vocals. The meandering sway of sacrilegious savagery is unnerving and has this raw and guttural production that perfectly suits the sound. Some of the vocals remind me of Glen Benton in Deicide’s earliest (and best) moments, but the riffing is far more akin to bands like Infester with their unusual and brutal occult atmosphere. With the low tuning, the guitars, bass, and drums sometimes merge into this destructive singular form of pulverising morbidity to then separate into vengeful entities in their own right. The off-kilter oddities in the drumming are totally killer and add to the disquieting feel of the record while those gargantuan guitars keep this ever-flowing molten essence of pure malice. Mixing higher and lower vocals, the demented and possessed snarls, howls, and growls could not be better suited to the darkened invocations of death they are performed on.

Worshiping at the profane altar of some of the most obscure and wicked death metal, Nedgravd manage to twist this sound into something of their own without tainting it in the slightest. This is an honourable tribute to older bands and yet something refreshing and totally different to most of what the current old-school death metal bands play. This is some putrid sorcery of epic proportions that will certainly leave most wimps buried. Along with the obvious death metal elements, there is an atmosphere that reminds me of certain US black metal such as Von, Demoncy, or Profanatica (along with Finland’s Beherit). Listen to the brief solo in “Paragon of Impiety” – it’s total madness that only an adherent of Trey Azagthoth could come up with! These Norwegian maniacs fully get what death metal should be!

Utilising their longer songs to explore charnel pathways many dare not enter, Nedgravd takes us to a place death metal rarely visits. Sampling of such perfect movies as The Devil Rides Out (1968) further elevates the experience, which is something I am totally engrossed in from the very start and find my attention utterly bewitched and bound by “Ascension” until the end. I remember being a kid, the first time I heard Deicide and Morbid Angel, and being a mixture of excited and scared. Nedgravd perfectly encapsulates that rare feeling many of us chase in death metal that has become so rare thanks to a huge abundance of tamer, safer, and simply less exhilarating material. Nedgravd, conversely, feels truly and profoundly vicious.

Primitive occult evil, this is death metal for those maniacs who preferred the obscurities of the 90s, which were perhaps overlooked next to more technical or groovy bands (or alternatively, they were simply saved for the elite few and never meant for fickle trend-chasers). Either way, Nedgravd pour fuel on the embers of occult death metal and ignite a blazing inferno of evil for the underground dwellers who deserve to hear it. An incredibly strong and impressive debut that embodies everything I want in an obscure, twisted, and suffocating death metal record.

“Do you believe in the power of darkness? The power of darkness is more than just a superstition. It is a living force, which can be tapped at any given moment of the night…”