85%
Werewolves obviously have no plans to change.
Three albums in and their modus operandi remains the same as it always did, bludgeoning riffs played at blinding speed, unimpeded by melody, fancy dynamics or any form of compromise. Only the gruelling mid-pace of Harvest of Skulls brooks any remorse from the furious extremity of From the Cave to the Grave, which maintains this trio’s reputation for utter brutality.
From the Cave to the Grave is 35 minutes of neck-snapping death metal ferocity where speed and unbridled hatred is all. In almost exactly the way the band’s previous album have been, this is eight explosions of venomous rage at a searing pace with virtually no let up. The riffs are ferocious and relentless, the vocals nothing more than a coarse, rasping growl of spite and fury and the drumming comes with a loose, unhinged aggression. The spitefully humourous Self-Help Book Burning rips things open with a vicious grind, Crushing Heaven’s Mandate is imperiously destructive, Pride and Extreme Prejudice caustic and barbaric. There isn’t a moment wasted here.
Hateful, fast, ugly and raw, From the Cave to the Grave is just pure death metal hell and nothing else. As it should be.
