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OUTER GRAVES
Terminal Limit

Transylvanian Recordings (2024)
Rating: 6.5/10

After forming out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin two years ago, death metal combo Outer Graves looks towards the stars for its lyrical themes. Cosmic horror death metal is the order of the day here as Kate Coysh (vocals), Zachary Muffett (guitar), Ryan Shaw (bass) and Jeffrey Kramer (drums) serves up a rather short (27 minutes) debut album which actually proves to be quite an uneventful experience, apart from the demented vocalisations of Coysh.

Opener ‘Scavenger’ is masterful at scraping the spinal column with its chilly blackened rhythms and the percussion provides extra bony juddering. It’s a cool way to start the stark process as Outer Graves opt for a mesmeric steadiness awash with icy glow. Sadly, there is little variety after this as the likes of ‘Malevolent Entity’, ‘Hostile Anomaly’ and ‘Seismic Scourge’ follow similar routes as jagged riffs combine with chalky bass lines.

There’s no denying the galactic quality of the band, but I just wish there was more technical variety constructed within the otherworldly framework. ‘Distress Beacon’, ‘Airlock Massacre’ and ‘Termination Quadrant’ are all consistent in their manner, but without Coysh’s nasty rasps these would be generic compositions. It’s as if something extra is promised with each track but nothing ever materialises, another case in point being ‘Re-Entry’.

Even though some of the tracks are relatively short I find myself struggling to stay tuned into what quickly becomes predictable bland fare. I still think there’s a lot of potential here so I won’t be so quick to dismiss this outing, especially with the sneering vocal performance from Coysh, but overall there’s just not enough going on here to keep me captivated through the grey.

Neil Arnold

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