UMUR
"Burial Ground" is the 9th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Regain Records in June 2010. After several lineup changes on the last couple of albums, "Burial Ground" features the exact same lineup who recorded "Dominion VIII (2008)" in Ola Lindgren (vocals, guitars), Fredrik Isaksson (bass), and Ronnie Bergerståhl (drums).
Stylistically it´s also pretty much more of the same old school Swedish death metal as was featured on "Dominion VIII (2008)". Downtuned guitar riffs, heavy drumming, and Ola Lindgren´s brutal growling vocals in front. The groove element which was a dominant feature in the middle part of the band´s career, is no longer a part of their sound. In fact it feels like "Burial Ground" is another step back to a more old school death metal sound, just as the case was with "Dominion VIII (2008)". The only time the music features a heavy mid-paced groove is during some of the mid-song breakdowns, which are present on some tracks.
The material on the 9 track, 42:06 minutes long album are well written and effective old school death metal, but upon conclusion it is a bit one-dimensional in style. It´s not a major issue, but a bit more variation between tracks and within tracks could have made the overall listening experience a bit more intriguing. The musicianship is on a high level and the sound production is suitably raw and powerful too, so upon conclusion "Burial Ground" is another good quality old school death metal release by Grave. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.