GRAVE ROBBER - YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!

A new Grave Robber album is a cause for carnivorous celebration! Our favorite quartet of living dead ghoulies has produced another collection of frightfully allegorical punk metal ditties. You’re All Gonna Die! Is the latest and greatest from Wretched and company.

All of the trademarks are here, Wooooaahhhh Wooooahhhh!!! The songs are even stronger this time out, whether the full tilt punk of the title track, the poppy punk metal of Invisible Man, the shoveling swing of Something This Way Comes, the cow eyed punk of Last Man on Earth and the metallic Curse of the Werewolf. You’re just gonna find yourself hitting the replay button over and over. The homage to Alice Cooper, The Misfits are still evident but GR really seem to be finding themselves musically.

You’re All Gonna Die! Has taken the Grave Robber zombie’s to another level as far as songwriting and production goes. The guitars sound crisp and punchy, the strong rhythm section is tighter than a body bag, and the vocals are even stronger than what was on their previous releases (Inner Sanctum, Be Afraid and Exhumed). The extra effort here has paid off in spades.

If you don’t get the spiritual metaphors interwoven throughout this album, I’m not gonna explain them to you. Having grown up on the horror films of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s they are very evident to this listener. Not to mention the appearances of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price through out this album. The art presented is crafted for a niche audience and if you’re not familiar with it you’re probably not gonna get it.

An outstanding album that has me excited (not to mention looking over my shoulder for a long boney finger…). Do yourself a favor and obtain this album legally while supporting a legitimate group of creative artists. You’re All Gonna Die! is the real deal without reservation. Where’s my mask????

9 axes

GRAVE ROBBER - EXHUMED

Well those robbers of your bad dreams from Indiana have unleashed another collection of spine chilling whimsy. Grave Robber delivers again and shows that they mean business. Their punky metal ala The Misfits, is a sure fire combination to cross many musical genres.

Exhumed is the title of their latest. Currently a download only, there is a very limited CD pressing that you might still be able to get in on. Several re-recorded songs appear here, Altered States, Army of The Dead as well as some demo versions of I, Zombie and Screams of the Voiceless. There are some slight arrangement changes and Army of the Dead has a bit more of a swinging vibe to it.

Some new songs are here as well, Fill This Place with Blood, They Hate You are two examples. However they’re not the only newbie’s to appear, Lion of Judah is a full on punk crossover barn burner that shows Grave Robber is able to put a strong melody in just about anything. Crank this one and play it loudly, I see a ghoulish pit starting already!

11 songs in total provide a pure sonic adrenaline rush that will definitely have you cheering and screaming in delight before the end. Their version of ‘The Grinch’ appears as well and is so much fun that I often forget these were the guys who threatened me with Shovel.

Now Wretched all I said was it looked like his handle was broken, I didn’t mean to insult your customization of Shovels lower appendage but it was an honest mistake.

The production on a few of tracks is a little uneven, but those tracks are labeled DEMO, so there shouldn’t be any complaining. Just a little FYI if you know what I mean. About half the release are demo versions and about half are the full monty.

Exhumed is a nice way to tide the faithful over until their next full length album release. It’s my hope that it comes sooner rather than later. Of final note is that you MUST see them live. I had a chance last year and wasn’t disappointed in the least. Quite honestly my appreciation of them went sky high. Grave Robber are a fantastic band, an original concept that digs deep, in the well of spiritual allegory.

8 axe….

GRAVE ROBBER - BE AFRAID

Grave Robber had to have a debut disc to follow up on and this one is it! ‘Be Afraid’ was released originally in 2007, but Retroactive have seen fit to re-release this with 2 additional tracks. You can hear Wretched and crew spit it out in all their rigor mortis infested glory.

This release has a bit more of the punk aspect than does their current release ‘Inner Sanctum’ (a strong album of the year candidate for 2009!). Songs like ‘Rigor Mortis,’ ‘Skeletons,’ and ‘I Want to Kill You Over and Over Again’ are just fabulous. Misfits/Danzig inspired punk/metal that really catches you by the throat and digs in deep. These ghostly ghouls just know how to write hooks. In music that is the most important thing to these ears.

The lyrical metaphors to the spiritual life of a follower of the way are simply amazing. ‘Army of The Dead’ is one of those songs that just ‘kills me’…..! I loved the cool intro to ‘Burn, Witch, Burn,’ since I know exactly where it came from. Heck I thought I was the only one who owned that album!!

This special re-release includes one new track and a remix of the amazing ‘Rigor Mortis’ by Angel from Dope. The remix is more a novelty, but their cover of the old Nazareth song ‘Love Hurts’ is really good.

Be Afraid is another superb offering from the Robbers. If you had to choose between this disc and their current release ‘Inner Sanctum’ I would say you can’t lose either way. I myself lean toward ‘Inner Sanctum’ as my favorite of the two yet ‘Be Afraid’ is getting its share of play time.

I understand that the Robber crew filmed a live DVD that should hopefully see the light at some point. Hopefully enough of the songs from this release will make it as well. Living on the West Coast will probably mean that I won’t get a chance to see Grave Robber perform so that DVD will be the next best thing. I should also mention that they have also released a comic book which looks to be very promising, the first issue sets up things rather nicely for the follow-ups….

I still need to obtain some Grave Robber gear, which will come in time. For the GR fan among you Christmas is coming sooner than you think….

8 axes

GRAVE ROBBER - INNER SANCTUM

WHOAH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH!

Growing up I used to watch Chiller Diller Matinee, The Sci-Fi Flicks and The Monstrous Movie. Creature Features would make the occasional appearance if I could stay up that late. It was through those shows that I developed an appreciation of the early monster flix i.e. Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Godzilla, so on. Good always conquered evil and the bad guys always lost. They might come again, but that was half of the fun. The true sense of those early horror pieces was the ultimate overcoming of Good, and they were pretty darn fun as well.

In a similar way we have one the most original bands to come out in Christian music in a long time. Grave Robber’s second release entitled ‘Inner Sanctum’ is wonderful. Taking their obvious love of bands like The Misfits, Alice Cooper; Grave Robber has carved out a unique niche here. From their outrageous stage attire to the crazy stage names Wretched belts out the Vokills and shovel. Lamentor wails on guitar while Carcass bashes his bass. Not to be outdone Plague hits the Doom Tubs. Tongue firmly planted in cheek (if they had one) they are the complete package and real deal.

“Children of the night… what music they make…...”

The music is punk with metal influences and hooks that really get under your skin. “Valley of Dry Bones”, “Fear No Evil”, “Altered States”, “The Night has Eyes” all bring fabulous chorus’s that are so catchy they implore you to listen again. The punk vibe is so cool it just rocks. Yet there is enough metal here to make any headbanger happy. I don’t own the previous Grave Robber CD but from the clips I’ve heard on a couple of compilations this album has a richer production from the drums to guitars. Lots of energy and passion that seep from this recording throughout.

One of my favorite songs is “Tell Tale Heart”, an obvious nod to Edgar Allen Poe, but musically to the King (Elvis that is!). I could only imagine Wretched singing this to his favorite ghoul. There is even a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Children of The Grave” that just ROCKS! Lots of drive and it’s heavy.

Through out this release Grave Robber hit another homerun in the lyric department as the lyrics themselves are anything but clichéd. Metaphor and Allegory are here with obvious tact and wit. Throughout the package each song is skillfully crafted lyrically and musically, enough ‘Whoas’ to make me think of an old spooky movie. Retroactive Records has put out three Essential releases this year. First are “Ultimatum – Lex Metalis”, “Mainline Riders – WorldShaker” and now Grave Robber.

This is a fabulous rock n roll album that’s fun, thought provoking, and a great listen. It’s just getting tons of repeated play in my CD player. You can check ‘em out on their Myspace page or watch their video for ‘Altered States’ on YouTube. Support these bands and buy their stuff, don’t rip ‘em off through downloading…..

ROCK ON!

Are there T-Shirts available?

9.5 AXES