Gruesome – Fragments of Psyche

After two releases, Gruesome finds themselves in a precarious position. With “Savage Land”, they created the most authentic Death worship to ever exist, but on “Dimensions of Horror”, they took it too far. The songs went from paying tribute to Death to straight-up ripping them off. “Fragments of Psyche”, their next EP presents an opportunity to reinvent themselves by moving deeper into Death’s career. The target this time around is “Human”, and much to Gruesome’s credit, they’ve rediscovered how to be inspired by Death without stealing their riffs this time. The title track on this album could be an unearthed gem from the “Human” sessions and no one would ever know (aside from some slight production differences). The unique intervals and riffing style that characterized this period are in full form on “Fragments of Psyche”, and one can’t help but be impressed by Gruesome’s commitment to perfecting this sound. 

And then there’s the rest of the EP. The remaining 6 tracks consist of a cover of “Choke On It” (one of Death’s most underrated songs, as it has insane harmonies and bouncy riffing), and 5 demo tracks of songs that appeared on the band’s debut. Unfortunately, as a purchase, this is all somewhat worthless. “Savage Land” practically is “Leprosy”, so there’s no real value in covering a song from that album. There are some slight differentiating elements to make it sound as though it was written in the "Human" era, but nothing all that major. Additionally, the demos don’t sound all that different from the final product. Ultimately, it makes “Fragments of Psyche” appear to be a very padded release. There’s only 4 minutes of real substance on this 31-minute EP. That doesn’t mean you should avoid it, but rather just pickup the one new track on iTunes and move on (or get the 7-inch, which has only the original song and the cover). Gruesome once looked like a promising project, and the potential is certainly still there, but the band should work on making another full-length record of songs that use Death’s tropes, and not their riffs. It likely doesn’t even matter which era they pay homage to, as Gruesome has the talent to pull all of them off; they just need to be more focused, and stop releasing things for the sake of releasing something.

Be sure to check out and like Gruesome on Facebook!

Highlight

"Fragments of Psyche"

Final Rating

3.5/5 or 70%. 

Written by Scott

Gruesome – Dimensions of Horror

Gruesome’s “Savage Land” was one of the most exciting death metal releases in years. No band has ever captured the sound of early Death better, and for that reason, the follow-up release, “Dimensions of Horror”, was eagerly anticipated by me. The formula hasn’t changed here (though this release leans slightly more towards “Scream Bloody Gore”, whereas the previous release felt like it was designed as an homage to “Leprosy”), but the end result is very different. Part of what made “Savage Land” so brilliant is that it was written in the style of Death, but it didn’t feel like a rip-off of the band. There were a couple of close calls in terms of similar riffs, but nothing egregious. “Dimensions of Horror”, on the other hand, is a straight-up copy of Death’s material. Every single riff on this EP sounds as though the band picked one of Chuck’s riffs, altered it slightly, and put it on this record.

I’m a staunch defender of newer thrash and traditional heavy metal bands that have very little originality. There’s nothing wrong with carrying on in a style that you like. People often make comments like “why listen to Evile when I can listen to Metallica or Slayer”, but it’s always good to have more material if you like the style. In Gruesome’s case, however, those comments are entirely fair. There’s really no point in listening to this EP because you can hear the original riffs on most of Death’s early work. 

In defense of the band, they’ve put together an enjoyable EP if Death’s riffs aren’t permanently wired into your brain. In fact, this is a very conflicting release: Death rules so much that despite all of the negativity this review has had, there’s not a second of it that could be considered mediocre. The problem is that it’s someone else’s music. Every element of this EP is great, from the riffs, to the vocal patterns and delivery, to the drumming, and even the production, but it just feels pointless. If you can look past the blatant copying of Death’s riffs, “Dimensions of Horror” will be in constant rotation, but “Savage Land” was a much better take on Death’s sound. For that reason, this EP is a major disappointment for 2016.

Be sure to check out and like Gruesome on Facebook!

Highlights

"Scream Bloody Gore"

"Leprosy"

Final Rating

3.0/5 or 60%. 

Written by Scott