UMUR
"Promo 91" is the fifth demo recording by Swedish death metal act Grave. The demo was independently released in early 1991. It´s the successor to the December 1989 "Promo 1989" demo. In the year since the previous demo release Grave had been contacted by Century Media Records who showed an interest in signing the band, but the label wanted a final recording from Grave to feel completely convinced and therefore invited Grave to Germany in October 1990 to record "Promo 91" at Nobel Studios in Bielefeld. Century Media Records made a similar move with Unleashed when they invited them to record the "Century Media Promo Tape" in December 1990.
The demo features seven tracks and a total playing time of 23:29 minutes. Four of the tracks would make in unto Grave´s 1991 debut full-length studio album "Into the Grave" (Century Media Records, August 1991).
"Promo 91" may have convinced Century Media Records that they wanted to sign Grave, but it´s in many ways not the best representation of Grave. The sound production is simply too clean and clinical for Grave´s dark and rotten take on death metal and the tracks sound somewhat powerless and odd when they are packed in this otherwise well sounding and professional production. Thankfully Grave opted to return to Sweden and Sunlight Studio to record "Into the Grave", which is a much better representation of what Grave is about.
So I´m a bit biased regarding "Promo 91", as it´s arguably a well performed, well written, and well produced demo, but there is a mismatch between the sound and aestethics of Grave´s music and the relatively polished sounding production, which isn´t doing the demo any favors. Still a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.