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GRAVE HEX
Vermian Death

Cavernous / Night Terrors (2025)
Rating: 7/10

If you’re a fan of Finnish extreme metal or underground death metal in general then you might want to add the debut release from Helsinki-based Grave Hex to your collection. Having formed just last year I’m surprised a full-length album has emerged so quickly, but members Martti (vocals and guitar), Miikka (vocals and guitar), Hanna (bass) and Matti (drums and vocals) are clearly talented enough to take such a step.

Vermian Death is a stinking pit of rotten death metal that will feel at home in the current cesspool occupied by the likes of Morbific. However, the thing that struck me most about this album was the melodies. There are some truly infectious moments on this album, whether it’s the groove-laden gore rolls on ‘Endless Impossible Constructs’ to some of the latter stages of ‘Pungent Pulsating Pools Of Blood’.

The other notable detail is the teamwork of drums and bass. To an extent they are at the forefront of every structure, clanking in gruesome rhythm. I also found a punk ethos hidden within some of the grisly layers, an almost upbeat groove existing as grimy cogs to drive along songs such as opener ‘Steeping Master Worm Flesh’.

This not exactly gloom-choked death metal, but even with the quickened passages there is still a foul air which stifles the ears, mainly through some of the more fetid chugs, such as on ‘Den Of Evil’ with its pungent growls and thickened guitar sound. There are some truly maniacal and chaotic faster segments too, and again I refer to ‘Den Of Evil’ where the solos frantically spiral through the crazed patter of drums. So, there are regular shifts in mood and pace as one would expect from a grotty death metal opus.

While not as death-doom as so many others, this relatively short (27 minutes) debut album is akin to a slimy slap in the face rather than a heavy bucket load of slop on the head. Vermian Death is very fitting of its time, a gangrenous geyser of gory globules which erupts exactly how I expected.

Neil Arnold

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