UMUR
"Endless Procession Of Souls" is the 10th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Century Media Records in August 2012. Grave finally managed to have the same recording lineup on both "Dominion VIII (2008)" and on "Burial Ground (2010)", but on "Endless Procession Of Souls" there have been a couple of changes again. Drummer Ronnie Bergerståhl and lead vocalist/guitarist Ola Lindgren are the usual suspects, but bassist Fredrik "Fredda" Isaksson has left and has been replaced by Tobias Cristiansson. In addition to that change Grave have added a second guitarist to the lineup on Mika Lagrén, making them a four-piece on this album.
The lineup changes have not affected the band´s trademark old school Swedish death metal style one bit though. Grave sound exactly like they´ve sounded on the last many albums, where they have returned to a more primal and simple old school Swedish death metal style as opposed to the more groove laden death metal style they played in the mid-90s and in part on their first album when returning to the scene in the early 00s after their hiatus. It´s grim, dark, and brutal death metal which is predominantly mid-paced and heavy, but also occasionally a little faster paced. The focus is on the brutal heavy riffs and rhythms, and on the growling vocals.
The material on the 10 track, 45:08 minutes long album is well written and effective, but it´s not an album where many tracks stand out or where you are able to remember many of them when the album has stopped playing. For that the songwriting style is a little too one-dimensional. It´s not a major issue but it´s enough for the album to not reach the heights it probably could have. A little more variation within and between tracks could have done the trick. Grave also seem content delivering an album which sounds almost exactly like the last couple of albums from them, so there hasn´t been much stylistic development between albums either. The sound production is probably the greatest change since the predecessor, as they´ve hit something really potent this time around, which makes "Endless Procession Of Souls" slightly better sounding and overall a little stronger than the last couple of albums. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.