Demo:listen: Gravesend

“Gravesend is a meeting of the minds of individuals active in other bands of the extreme metal genre,” according to a member of NYC’s latest death metal abomination. “Call it ‘bestial’ or call it ‘grinding death,’ the result of Gravesend’s sonic output is a conflation of its member’s deep roots and active involvement in the black metal, grindcore and death metal scenes.”

From what we can tell, their lyrics center around their home city. “Correct,” they confirm. “New York City, a city of filth, the bizarre and the unsavory. It’s here where the misfits, the needle chasers, the urban scrawlers, the hermits, the underground tunnel dwellers that all find sanctuary in this welcoming stronghold of the weird. We draw on this as inspiration of simultaneous disgust and amazement. From this our sound manifests.”

They continue to refer to their music as “an illustration in sonic form, a soundtrack of a city that churned out murders, floaters and body disposal in vats of acid.”

Preparations for Human Disposal

This motif runs strong throughout their artwork, too. “It’s the urban landscape, the raw, the decaying and the filth. That’s where the aesthetic comes from.  We have no interest in touting mountain ranges and forests, or invisible forces like Satan or whatever other traditional extreme metal motifs exploit.”

Like many modern extreme metal bands these days, Gravesend found a way to incorporate synth into their sound. This was done “to compliment the sounds of the era,” according to the band. “Our sound is reminiscent of the grotesque and eerie state of events in New York City during the 70s and 80s, and our synth compliments those feelings.”

Gravesend’s demo Preparations for Human Disposal was recorded with Nolan Voss. According to Gravesend: “Nolan Voss has the tools, knowledge and the decades of experience, whether that’s playing music or recording, to nail the sound we were after. We came in, we recorded fast and efficiently and moved on.”

Regarding their track “Verrzzano Floater,” they say, “You might think of Verrazzano Floater as the large black bag floating from Gravesend Bay, through upper New York harbor. It’s based on the true story of the dismembered body found near that Bay.”

As for the future the band could only offer, “Our full length was mid-recorded before the plague struck.”

 

Gravesend’s demo is available today in limited quantities on pro-cassette from Stygian Black Hand.