Graveyard Dirt – For Grace or Damnation (2010)

With Death/Doom Metal being almost a dying art, Graveyard Dirt delivers a gasp of fresh air to one of our favorite genres. In “For Grace of Damnation” the band crafts one of the most monumental releases of the genre we have heard in quite a while.

Drawing obvious inspirations from early Anathema and Paradise Lost, and combining them with newer influences of Mourning Beloveth, Shape of Despair, etc, the band shows great maturity in all eight tracks presented in this release. Painting landscapes of desolation and darkness, “For Grace or Damnation” is sure to attract all fans of the genre.

The band opens with the My Dying Bride-esque “By Wind and Time”, building enough momentum for their first blow: “Daylights Wrath”. In this track we get the traditional Doom sounding guitars that create the bleak atmosphere needed. We also get very effective growls (somewhat of a Swedish growl/scream) that give that boost Death/Doom songs all need.

With the 11-minute anthem “These Hands Defiled”, you can hear that the band is surely not trying to push the envelope and try new things; they rather stick to the genre’s basics and excel at it. With effective drumming and a powerful bass guitar line, songs like “Enslaved by Grief” and “The Search for Solitude” shine, in particular the last one due to its changing vocal styles and minimal use of keyboards.

Our favorite song comes with the name of “Silence Awakes”, here the band delivers a crushing melancholic performance and the weeping guitars make this song immediately pop-out. The instrumental “Solace”, showcases the band’s ability to create hypnotic songs and Kieran O’Toole’s guitar skills. Closing this release we have the crushing 14-minute song “A New Day Fire”.

If you are looking for a solid Death/Doom Metal release, you should definitely check this album out. Graveyard Dirt does a great job in keeping the flame of the genre alive and in the mean time deliver a very strong album that might in fact become a genre classic one day.

Release: November 2010

Country: Ireland