GRUESOME – Savage Land

Due to their involvement with the DTA tours over the past couple of years, guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey (Exhumed) and drummer Gus Rios of Malevolent Creation started jokingly discussing how cool it would be if someone (namely them) wrote and recorded an album based around the idea of sounding like the first couple of Death albums. Before long they had enlisted Possessed guitarist Daniel Gonzalez and Derketa bassist Robin Mazen and the project became a reality.

The result is a success on a scale that is set to become legendary. Firstly, that the guys could emulate the writing style of one of the greatest metal songwriters of all time, not only managing to sound like early Death, but also pulling off the incredible feat of creating great songs in the process. Wow. Matt Harvey could actually pass as Chuck vocally. I always disliked the change that Schuldiner’s vocals underwent as his output became more progressive on the later albums. How much would I love to hear them redone with Harvey singing! All of the other musicianship is, as you could imagine, first rate. In fact, I think Gruesome is currently the best band any of the members are involved with.

As you can see from the cover, the production values of early Death have been replicated – not only with the Ed Repka cover but also right through to the production. When a project is conducted with this much love and attention to detail, you can’t fail to applaud it.

More. Now! Seriously…

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