ALBUM REVIEW: From The Cave To The Grave – Werewolves
WEREWOLVES count members who have served time in THE BEZERKER, PSYCROPTIC and BLOOD DUSTER so it’s no surprise that they serve up some of the sickest grooves that have been unleashed in recent times, and you wouldn’t want it any other way. Having made waves with their first two albums The Dead Are Screaming and What A Time To Be Alive, the band return with their third opus, From The Cave To The Grave, a record that sees the Australian trio going all out berserk on all 13 of the album’s tracks, unleashing their bloodthirsty death metal with reckless abandon and a healthy macabre sense of humour.
From The Cave To The Grave kicks off with the discordant deathly grind of Self-Help Book Burning. It’s a hell of a way to kick off an album as WEREWOLVES vocalist (and bassist to boot) Sam Bean lets loose with his formidable growl and destructive use of bass. When that is combined with the power of drummer David Haley and the razor sharp riffs of guitarist Matt Wilcock, you have a winning recipe for heaviness that carries on throughout the entire album. The highlights come thick and fast, all delivered with skill and passion and you can tell that WEREWOLVES are absolutely loving the carnage they are creating with their music and the songs on this album.
From the the brilliantly titled lycanthrope ode that is All The Better To Eat You With to the the slowly crushing groove of Harvest Of The Skulls, with a side order of the catchy as well as crushing metal of Pride And Extreme Prejudice and the closing kick in the face that is Watch Your Mouth, this is the sound of WEREWOLVES going all out to stake their claim to be one of the prime death metal bands around at the moment and this is a task that they definitely succeed at.
This is the sound of a band who are undoubtedly in their own lane. They have come up with a record that, although obviously technically brilliant, seems to deliberately eschew that technical edge that some death metal bands prefer in favour of something more raw and it has to be said that the results are never anything less than stunning.
From The Cave To The Grave is a brilliantly hateful and venomous album and sees WEREWOLVES really up the ante when it comes to their aural brutality. It will be very interesting to see what the band have up their sleeves when it comes to new material in the future because on the strength of the songs on this album, it will take something truly vicious to top this record. Until that time though, the chance to indulge in the sonic murdering spree that is From The Cave To The Grave is here right now, and indulge you must.
Rating: 8/10
From The Cave To The Grave is set for release on June 24th via Prosthetic Records.
Like WEREWOLVES on Facebook.