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GRAVE DISGRACE
Visions Of Tomorrow

Self-released (2023)
Rating: 8/10

I’m still kicking myself for not discovering this Russian band when their debut self-titled full-length outing was released back in 2012, which was quickly followed in 2013 by a second album, Triumphant & Militant Church. I finally hopped on board the Grave Disgrace doom train in 2018 when the band’s third opus, Sabbatharium, dropped. It was quite the monolithic slab, as was fourth release Rest In Peace in 2020.

The St. Petersburg-based trio has been a consistent and formidable machine, so it’s no surprise that this new slab is all killer and no filler. As expected with a doom metal release, the tracks offered are somewhat lengthy, but for some, the vocals of Alexey Uvarov may be too much of an Ozzy Osbourne imitation. In a sense, Grave Disgrace follow similar paths to Count Raven who somewhat mastered the art of aping Black Sabbath but in reputable fashion.

The five main tracks coughed up from the coffin each run for over seven minutes and are built on aching, archaic riffs which lumber and ooze like a far more syrupy Black Sabbath. The vocals, just like classic Ozzy, have that despondent yearning, but from ‘Living Dead’ through ‘Blind Death’, ‘Razors And Blades’, ‘Visions Of Tomorrow’ and to the closing ‘Coffins In Blood’ there is nary a deviation from the sluggish in sight.

All the tracks are arduous slots that drag you into peat bogs, but for those who like no frills doom metal another yawning Grave Disgrace album is just what the doom doctor ordered even if his methods and medicine are tried, trusted and all too familiar.

Neil Arnold

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