Undeath – It’s Time...To Rise From The Grave

Undeath

It’s Time...To Rise From The Grave

by Justin "Witty City" Wittenmeier at 02 April 2022, 11:30 PM

A band like UNDEATH may appear to take very little seriously if you take the songs at face value from a lyrical stand point. But the song writing is deadly serious, an on point nuclear warhead drop on the world of death metal. Old school death metal is definitely part of the format but it is wrapped up in a modern package, that leaves the band far from being just another late 80’s, early 90’s death metal cover band. The songs are concise to the point, a focused bludgeoning tool. Even still, “It’s Time…” takes the genre to another dimension with a desire to have big choruses and a catchy, hook laden song.

Not only do they pull it off, but they do it in such a way that not even one percent of their brutal sound is compromised. It is rare for a band to be able to push their sound forward while retaining all that made them what they are. It is even rarer still for a band this young to accomplish this. Within this repackaged and refocused sound, I hear a band that is trying to be the best they can be…and have a lot of fun doing it. Basically, this is a fun romper stomper of an album that doesn’t take itself seriously as far as lyrics go, yet it does take itself seriously in delivering the deathly goods.

This is the time for UNDEATH to really hit the scene hard. “It’s Time…To Rise From The Grave,” is a record that can have a wide appeal. Fans who liked “Lesions…” will go ape shit for this one. However, anyone who wasn’t impressed with the previous album, could very well be turned around with this album. The band now has a full lineup in the form of Tommy Wall on bass and Jared Welch on guitars.  With each instrument not being full concentrated by just one musician, the band’s sound is definitely more full.  The production is well balanced as well:  more than abrasive enough to capture the band’s ferocity but with just enough sheen to make it actually fun to listen to.

Through a recent interview I did with the guys, I know one of their influences is JUDAS PRIEST and I can definitely here some NWOBHM influence throughout the album, especially with some of the galloping riffs and melodies. With that being said, this still death metal and the album will rip your face off during its blistering thirty-five minute run.  I listened to the promo five or six times in a row on the way back from a long trip so I can tell you those thirty-five minutes go by fast and they never get old.  “It’s Time To Rise…From The Grave” is definitely an album that remains enjoyable after many, many repeated listens.

The album starts with “Fiend For Corpses,” and it wastes absolutely no time.  Truth be told, it starts out like it was already going for a minute or so—which I think helps give an immediately attention grabbing, blast of bombastic energy to an album that just picks up more and more as it goes along.  And that chorus?  If it isn’t stuck in your head for days then you are probably a corpse yourself. The middle portion of the track is punishment beyond punishment but that guitar solo shows the band is willing to shred their asses off as well.

“Rise From The Grave,” features deadly lead work in the beginning moments that give the song subtle hints of melody.  The drums and bass compliment the guitar while still adding a structural foundation that the song itself feeds off of—adding new members was such a smart move and just increased the dynamics of the band.  This one has a bit of a thrash feel to it at times and the beat of the drums are a galloping march—but all this still melds in firmly with their death metal.

“Funeral Within,” is one of my personal favorites on the album but it also one of the more uncompromising songs too.  The drums really stand out here—crisp and loud but a steamroller unto themselves.  The vocals are terrifying too—incredible gutturals that are sick and rotten to the core.  The bass absolutely slaps, especially the middle section which is wave after wave after wave of head smashing, rib crushing, heart burst rifftastic hellish onslaught.

Another favorite of mine, “Human Chandelier,” is the audio representation of stuffing a bunch of bodies into a meat grinder while bashing your head into a concrete wall because reasons.  The riffs and bass are slick as hell, well though out compositions that shouldn’t work with such a song but do anyway because these guys are so goddamn eloquent at writing filthy death metal. Around the 2:17 mark, the song becomes chunky soup but instead of meat and potatoes, it’s bone and guts.

“Trampled Headstones,” is exactly how to send an album—every thing that makes it, and the band, great is represented here. The movement 2:28 to the end is straight up death metal madness, absolute in its path to destruction. With “It’s Time…To Rise From The Grave,” UNDEATH have proven they are hear to stay—-a strong sophomore effort like this solidifies them for the foreseeable future and their mark on death metal will definitely be left.

Songwriting: 9
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 9
Production: 9