It has been five long years since Montgomery, Alabama death metal merchants Grave Ritual put out a full length. Or any music at all. In their defense they were a bit busy with their absolutely filthy, putrid black metal outfit Abysmal Lord (who drop their debut LP on 11.27.2015). Morbid Throne is a geniusly titled album in that Grave Ritual now deserve a darkened throne among the greats of blackened death metal. Morbid Throne is a work that is at once familiar, recognizable and infectious. An absolute must for any death metal fan.

Back in 2010, Grave Ritual were blowing people away with Euphoric Hymns From the Altar of Death. That album was raw, assaultive and unrelenting. Yet closer in production to the work of Abysmal Lord than it was to Grave Ritual. A little more straight forward. So the band did something smart. They created Abysmal Lord, moved their raw, two-track sounding recording style over to that band and decided to take Grave Ritual in the direction of similarly named bands (not to name names). Grave Ritual has added touches of melody as on the opener “Baleful Aversion” as the guitars weep in mournful agreement before flying off into their almost bouncy, fast-paced rhythms.

The unfortunate side of the departure was the Grave Ritual, after garnering some praise and attention, disappeared into the stars that fell on Alabama. And now, five full years later, they claw their way out of the grave to unleash a swirling work of chaos and destruction. Morbid Throne is yet another chaotic, thick work of blackened death metal. Lyrical themes of death, blaspheme and the crazier sides of life predominate throughout. Don’t let the accessibility of Morbid Throne fool you though—this isn’t a formulaic, bland work. Rather, it’s a well-crafted and engaging work of destruction.

Sure, you can compare Grave Ritual to all the originators of the death metal sound that we know today. It sounds like Incantation, Autopsy and Demigod. But it’s become tired and rote to compare every single death metal band to a combination of the originators. Grave Ritual are very much a part of the new direction and new wave of death metal. Elements of black metal are heartily woven in thematically while pieces of crust and d-beat tend to predominate the more aggressive sections. The vocals are still low, blood curdling and angry as anything. But the genre itself is progressing. And that’s a good thing. A great thing even.

There are many death metal albums out there. Hundreds released each year. While almost all of them will have some link to the past, very few tend to have an eye towards the future. Few albums have a personal touch and a signature sound to them. Grave Ritual used their five year hiatus wisely and crafted a tight, consistent and altogether pleasing work with Morbid Throne. This is an album of putrescence that is so comfortable it can be played on loop ad nauseum. Which I highly recommend.

– Manny-O-War

Morbid Throne is available 10.30.2015 via Dark Descent Records. For more information on Grave Ritual head over to their Facebook page.