To The Grave is still fueled by rage.
True to their vegan and anti-speciesist convictions, Dane Evans (vocals), Jack Simioni (guitar), Nic Webb (guitar), Matt Clarke (bass), and Connor Kingdom (drums) have announced, in partnership with label BLKIIBLK, the release of their sixth album, Liberation Front.
We kick things off with MEAT THE HUMANS, a track that opens with unsettling tones and immediately hits hard with perfectly effective, choppy riffs, complemented by the vocalist’s screams, which add all his fury to his already thick sound. The groovy vibe immediately has us headbanging as the explosions multiply, especially during the mosh part leading into the shorter but equally brutal NAIL MARY, which takes over and instantly makes us want to start a mosh pit. Once again, the track is a succession of elements, each more aggressive than the last, and while the sample provides a brief respite, the reprise is all the more energetic before the arrival of TORTURE PORN, which grants us ten seconds of respite before launching into its own full-throttle assault. The same goes for EYESTALK ABLATIONS, which takes half the time to let its rhythm section ignite and run us over in successive waves of violence, leading into LIFE AMONG THE SEPTICS, where we find an approach that’s at times a bit more technical though this in no way detracts from the sheer brutality of the wildest sections. The machine kicks back into gear almost immediately with CALF SLICER, which unleashes all its power in a very direct, no-frills manner, followed by LIMB FROM LAMB, which builds a bit more slowly but delivers its most imposing riffs while adding oppressive harmonics to create a truly crushing block of anxiety. The final serves as the song’s climax before giving way to YOU KNOW THE DRILL, which returns to devastating, steamroller-like accelerations, but its length allows it to vary the pace before handing the baton to TERRORFIRE, which treats us to half its duration with ethereal notes while a voice speaks to us, but the distortion makes a grand return to propel us into THE WORLD IS A SLAUGHTERHOUSE, the final track that alternates between suffocating tones and waves of aggression to close out the album in the most beautiful way possible, and in my opinion, the band would be well-advised to include it in their setlists!
Liberation Front isn’t just a collection of violence for To The Grave, it’s also a manifesto of perfectly commendable ideas that the band illustrates with hard-hitting riffs and as oppressive as an atmosphere can be. A real sledgehammer to the head!
85/100
