Graveworm is another black metal band from Germany. I watched the band when they played on the Party Stage in Wacken 2003. This was the first time I heard anything with the band, and it was indeed a positive surprise.

Graveworm play melodic black metal with a gothic touch, which seems to be a popular genre these days. The frontrunners in this genre are bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, so it is not surprising that a lot the new bands sound a bit like them. This is indeed the case with Graveworm, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Engraved in Black is the 4th full length album from the band, and we are dealing with a pretty good collection of melodic metal songs here. The opener Dreaming into Reality is 7 minute long, and it is a pretty cool track. It is contrast-filled, and it switches between heavy mid-tempo parts and fast parts with bursting double bass drums. The musicians in the band know what they are doing; they seem to be competent without showing off too much.

Graveworm features a female keyboard player named Sabine Mair. I remember thinking that the keyboard was pretty impressive when I heard the band in Wacken. The keyboard is, however, a bit too anonymous on this production.

The next track is Legions Unleashed and it is one of the better tracks on the album. The song is very melodic and brutal at the same time. Vocalist Stefan Fiori uses both growls and screams, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think, however, that the highest screams sound a bit too distorted - somewhat like noise from a radio. I don't know whether to blame the production or the vocalist.

The band is known for making "interesting" cover songs. They have earlier made cover songs of Maiden's Fear of the Dark and Pet Shop Boys' It's a Sin. On this album they have made a cover of REM's Losing my Religion. I don't know exactly what to say about this, some parts of the song are well fit for black metal while others are not. To be honest I like REM's version better :)

Engraved in Black is a decent album with lots of interesting elements. It is not groundbreaking in any way, but Graveworm have the potential to evolve to something bigger. A bit more work is needed on the next album.

Written by Anders
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
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Ratings

Anders: 6/10

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Comment by loo (Anonymous) - Wednesday, May 23, 2007

true, this album needs more deeper work, altough i loved this cd to give it a personal 7.5-8/10, i think it is a bit too much of saturated sound and less well founded melodies. Everything is made right but i feel first the very short lenght is not helping and second it feels lie evanescence with parts of a post Dusk and Her Embrace feeling. I absulotely like the first era of cradle but graveworm needs its own genre, ersonnality. They're playing a superb mix of all mainstream black metal but aren't distinguishing them from the whole movement. You'll be pleased with a do-it-all album that allies black, goth and classical music with a huge atmosphere but to metal fans, it will sound like something they have already heard...