“I am concerned with a total collapse of our dreams,” says Grave Pleasures frontman Mat McNerney. “Our aspirations and our positive view of both our personal lives and the future of mankind as a species. My lyrics deal with us being a post-apocalyptic species, aware of our inevitable demise, quite possibly by our own hands. How this relates to the way we see the world and the way we live our lives is terribly romantic in a very macabre and terrifying way. There is no more frightening and dangerous place on earth than the human mind and how it deals with its own breakdown. Breakdown of relationships, love, dreams, desires and ultimately existence.”
If that sounds heavy lyrically, wait until you hear “Futureshock”. Not heavy in the traditional sense — you, Bolt Thrower’s “World Eater” — but heavy in vibe, in purpose, and in sonic aesthetic. That’s Grave Pleasures (née Beastmilk) in a nutshell. In fact, the entire release of Dreamcrash, considered a debut by all measures, pivots on McNerney’s grim assessment of mankind’s self-destructive nature against Linnéa Olsson’s Carpathian riffage and Uno Bruniusson’s percussive tumult. In short, it’s pretty awesome for a band barely out of the creative gate.
So, bang, bang, the funeral drums, folks. It’s time for “Futureshock”!
** Grave Pleasure’s new album, Dreamcrash, is out now on Metal Blade Records. The album’s available HERE, direct to your brain via plastic, metal, and hypnotic light pulses.