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BASTARD GRAVE
Vortex Of Disgust

Pulverised (2023)
Rating: 8/10

Bastard Grave has been a somewhat overlooked death metal act since forming in 2012. Maybe the fact that the five-piece hails from Sweden means that audiences feel as if they know what’s coming with each release – buzzsaw riffs based on the classic Entombed ethos – but for me Bastard Grave have always brought something different.

Vortex Of Disgust, the third full-length from the combo, offers more utterly miserable vocal coughs, plenty of meaty yet gloom-drenched slower segments, and some literally filthy pacier sections. This new album seems to twin itself with the likes of Cerebral Rot and those sorts of filth hounds we’ve been drooling over for the last few years. Out go the d-beat kicks, omitted are the more distinctive retro traits of that classic Swedish sound and in come the Autopsy slaps of gloom, and at times punkier meatiness. But most of all, there’s a dragging doom-drenched philosophy here meaning that this eight-track album is heavier, thicker and filthier.

For me, the latter tracks on this release lean more towards a gloomier perspective where the tone is far more dragging at times as silt seems to clog every instrument, and all to the benefit of this cavernous cacophony. Standout tracks for me are probably ‘Eternal Decomposition’ and ‘Nameless Horror’, both dank slabs of mould-covered old school worship. But that’s not to say that Vortex Of Disgust isn’t still a groove machine; much of the earlier songs boasts an extra chainsaw-driven kick as evidenced on opener ‘Sunder The Earth’ and ‘Icon Bearer’. However, those evidently more crisp structures pale in comparison to the band’s gloomier twists and I hope they continue this path onto the next venture.

Neil Arnold

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