Band's List Black Metal Graveborne Astride Over the Grave

I'm not sure what to make of the album title, Astride Over the Grave. It could mean to take a leak on a grave. Or it also could mean to stand over an empty hole while waiting for someone to gun you down into it. Anyhow this black metal band from Finland has got two very experienced members, the drummer and a guitarist who are also in the Finnish band, Black Crucifixion. They've also got two members who were in Parade Of Souls, which formed in 1993 and had split up in 1996. So although this is the first demo for this band, many of its members are no strangers to the Finnish music industry.

Nitimur In Vetitum rocks with a cool melody, at a fast pace. It sounds similar to the Susperia song, Illusions Of Evil, but lacks the dazzling guitar hooks, and overall potency of that song. The next song, Graveborne, is a silly approach to black metal. It comes across sounding something like Blood Cult or Polterchrist. Storm starts out with a cold Scandinavian rhythm that sounds like the style of Svartsyn, then it breaks back into a humorous approach to black metal. With slower melodic bass riffs and occasional ambient guitar breakdowns. The grim vocals on this song sound almost as comical as those of Wild, from Nomans Land on the Hammerfrost album. This song had a lot of potential, but it was screwed up by their goofy approach to it. Anneliese Azazel has a really loose and careless approach to black metal. It almost sounds like early punk rock. The vocals of Ratto have a higher and more gruff tone, sounding like The Magus from Necromantia.

This album didn't blow me away or impress me at all. It sounded like a demo that was done by newcomers to the music industry, despite the experience from some of their band members. The biggest problem with this album is that humor doesn't mix well with black metal. Just listen to the new album by Blood Cult, it sounds pretty lame. Humor has worked well in some death metal bands, like Pungent Stench and Macabre. The inconsistency of the vocals from song to song, make it look as though they are still in the experimentation stage of finding their real style. Although they don't grow corn in Finland, they sure do have their fair share of corny music. Sorry, guys, but you need to come up with a different strategy.