Graveworm – Fragments of Death (2011)

Continuing on the right path after their very impressive release “Diabolical Figures”, today we have Graveworm and their latest opus “Fragments of Death”. Most of the Gothic Metal pleasantries away, “Fragments of Death” delivers 11 punishing tracks of very well balanced Death/Black Metal with a high melodic content, but always aggressive enough to make your speakers explode.

Opening with the high intensity “Insomnia”, the band shows fierce Death Metal influences with a nice Melodic edge in terms of riffing and some atmospheric keyboards. Stefan’s vocals are as good as always and his mixture between growls and shrieks is just excellent. The melodic/brutal assault continues with the ‘slower’ “Only Death in our Wake”, but quickly picks up with some excellent chorus section on “Absence of Faith”. In this track, the melody makes a huge different in making a repetitive song very catchy and powerful. Some sections in this track even feel a bit like their sound back on “As the Angels Reach the Beauty” but will less flair.

“Living Nightmare”, “The World Will Die in Flames”, and “Anxiety” deliver excellent hard hitting DM riffs with melodic elements paired with subtle keyboards. With this combination the band has managed to stay fresh and explosive over the years and it works wonders in this album as well. In particular the clean female vocals on “Anxiety” are very well thrown into the mix. In terms of the best song we have to say that “See No Future” delivers a nice melodic section combined with harsh vocals.

The rest of the album follows nicely and delivers very catchy and powerful songs. The closer “where Angels Do Not Fly” is a well crafted track that delivers a few more punches before the release ends, leaving the listener with a nice high after such a crushing release. It is very nice to hear that Graveworm has managed to keep the brutality and incorporated some of their excellent melodic sections into the mix. If the band continues with such releases it will be hard for anybody to even come near their achievements over their nearly 20 years of existence.

Release: October 21st, 2011

Country: Italy