In case you’re unfamiliar with Gruesome (featuring current and former members of Exhumed, Possessed, Malevolent Creation, and Derkéta) the band’s Death-driven metal was born from the involvement of Matt Harvey and drummer Gus Rios in Death To All Tours. If you missed it, the 2015 debut full-length Savage Land delivered Leprosy-ridden death metal of the mandatory listening degree.
That’s old old-school news though. Looking to the future (through a lens of yesteryear), Gruesome’s new EP Dimensions of Horror will see a May 20th release on Relapse, and once again boasts menacing artwork from the renowned Ed Repka. We’ll let the always enthusiastic Gruesome/Exhumed mainman Harvey introduce the six-track rager:
We’re totally psyched to bring you the first track from our new EP – “Forces of Death.” This record, Dimensions of Horror delves deeper into the roots of our favorite Floridian, Chuck Schuldiner and revisits the days of Scream Bloody Gore and the numerous DEATH demos. We wanted to do something rawer, nastier and more primitive than Savage Land and we hope you guys enjoy it and get into that gutter-level, early Death Metal head-space with us. So as you listen, close your eyes, imagine that you just got home from high school in 1987, ditched your Mongoose bike and ejected your brand new None Shall Defy cassette out of your walkman to check your mailbox. Inside, there’s a 60 minute TDK tape in the mail from an overseas penpal with the Insanity 1985 rehearsal on one side and a dub of this new “mini-lp” on the other. You steal some of your dad’s beer, light up a joint before your parents get home and pop this bad boy in the stereo while you watch a worn out, 2nd generation VHS dub of The Beyond on mute on a 125 pound television. Now you’re ready to enter the dimensions of horror and enlist in the forces of death.
Pre-orders for Dimensions of Horror are available in CD, cassette, and vinyl via Relapse, while digital pre-orders are available via Bandcamp. For anyone who has spent hours headbanging to Schuldiner riffs, don’t snooze on this one. Your collection needs this.
And for more Death, check out the DEATH by MetaL documentary to be screened for the first time next Saturday at Choosing Death Fest: Grimposium.
