Gravesend. I immediately thought of the ancient Kent town and wondered why an American band named themselves for this M2 backwater (sorry men or Kent or Kentish men).

Apparently, there is a Gravesend in Brooklyn NYC which is the birthplace of Type O Negative, Life of Agony and this particular band.  There is a Canadian band /musician called Gravesend which confused me greatly on youtube when I searched for more music on there. Do you see what an epic journey reviewing can be? Full of twists and turns and blind alleys.

Talking of which Gravesend represent the NYC that existed in my mind growing up in London. Watching films like The Warriors, Serpico and Beat Street romanticised grit, graffiti and grime for me whilst I listened to Ramones and Agnostic Front.

Now there are arguments for and against the Rudolph Giuliani clean-up of the Big Apple and the gentrification that followed. It sent rents sky high and caused the collapse and disappearance of many neighbourhoods in the 5 boroughs leaving in its wake characterless shopper and hipster friendly playgrounds. However, there is less crime and less menace. Swings and roundabout.

Well Gravesend still hang in the playgrounds that are covered in discarded needles and white dog shit, people turning tricks and chalk outlines around blood splatters.  They take the dark fury of early Black Metal – think first couple of albums Bathory, mix it with punishing Death metal a la early Cannibal Corpse and Death and then mulching in Repulsion and Napalm Death for good grinding measure.  Those comparisons, as glowing as they are, do not do this album justice. This is the sound of concrete meeting flesh. Of gun shots and splashes in a dark frosty dockland. Of folks dying of addiction in the wealthiest nation on earth whilst billionaires look down upon the detritus like gods on Olympus.

These guys get you in the mood from the get go. The intro – Fear City is a dark synth piece reminiscent of John Carpenter or the less well known but no less brilliant Barry De Vorzon (The Warriors) and it feels like the listener is trapped in the wrong part of town at the wrong time of night. Time to pucker that arsehole, flex those arms and head for the subway motherfucker!

STH-10 helps pump up the testosterone and endorphins ready for the fight. It is a mosh laden instrumental that is the equivalent of the circling and pushing and quiet cursing before a street brawl. Then all fucking hell breaks loose.

For the next 8 or so minutes this is a no holds barred, pick up what you can and smash your opponent fight to the death. Blastbeats bludgeon, slow doomy crust riffs sweep legs away, blackened growls pierce eardrums and death metal chords and basslines stab at any exposed flesh.  When things slow to a gnarly punky grind buzz it is like a junkyard dog prowling the outside of the bloodied circle looking for the first guard to be dropped.

Exhausting! Luckily with a further rat infused cinematic interlude the listener is afforded a break just as Cochise et al did when they got to chill in the subway mid movie.

After this intermission we get a crusty build up to Trinity Burning before full Black Metal fury is unleashed  – Quorthon’s ghost possesses this bad boy!  With track titles like Absolute Filth, Unclaimed Remains, Needle Park and the quite frankly sublime Scum Breeds Scum you get a further idea what these guys are about.

This album has electrified me during this plague-ridden time. Once the album ended I felt myself Jonesing for more. Thank badness for the June 2020 demo on bandcamp. These guys are out to playeeyay and I hope my mum let’s me join them!

(I affiliate Turbo AC’s due to my haircut though my heart is always with Swan and Cochise  – fuck Ajax)

(9/10 Matt Mason)  

https://www.facebook.com/warforgravesend

https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/methods-of-human-disposal