Death Metal Tuesday - You'll Never See... (1992)

GRAVE - YOU'LL NEVER SEE... 1992

Grave are from the initial batch of Swedish death metal acts, forming in the late 80's and hitting the states in 1990-91. You'll Never See... is their second album, following up the much revered Into the Grave. What we have here is a solid and rather typical-sounding Swedish death album with that notorious "Sunlight Studios" sound, pioneered by Entombed and Dismember. That means buzz-saw guitars, thudding drums, and deep guttural vocals. Anybody who was anybody in Sweden sounded like this from 90-92. Unfortunately, that makes the Swedish sound a bit derivative by nature since it was recorded in the same studio, and engineered by the same guy (Tomas Skogsberg).

Content-wise, You'll Never See... takes very few risks and makes few changes from the debut. It's notably less muddy - the drum mix is clean and clear, (though a bit heavy on the snare for my tastes), the tempo is still nicely cranked up, and the songs are chock full of changes, break-downs, and monster riffs. Sandstrom has a good Cookie-Monster growl, nice and guttural, and a little goofy (but that's usually a good thing).

The title track has an epic hook over a medium pogo beat that just begs for a circle pit - it is fantastic, and probably the best moment of the album. Grief, Obsessed, and Severing Flesh are all like-minded, competent Swedish death metal rockers. This is a solid, enjoyable album that will appeal to fans of the early work from the aforementioned Entombed and Dismember. Grave would continue to release albums, evolving to that disappointing “Rot & Roll” crap along with Entombed. You’ll Never See... Is a straight-forward, rather redundant release, but genre fans should dig it. It’s worth 3 out of 5.