Graves For Gods - Last Light Fades

 Graves For Gods is a death/doom metal band from Australia who formed in 2020.  Their latest album, “Last Light Fades,” is their second full-length album.  

I missed out on their debut but I’m glad “Last Light Fades” made its way to my inbox.  As the cover art suggests, this album is one born of pure darkness and all the unseemly things that come with it.  However, it is also filled with surprisingly catchy moments and can be quite melodic when needed.

The first song, “Prepetua Fell,” is a great example of this, particularly in how the lead guitar adds flavorful layers to the songs and helps steer it in and out of dark territories. The heavy riffs from the rhythm/bass are simple but earworms within themselves while the harmonies stick out in the mind.   I like how the song is slow enough to let the music seep into the spaces between, but it doesn’t languish or meander too much—the band knows exactly where it wants to go.   The vocals are fantastic:  deep growls with a menacing tone.  I really like the middle passage where the instruments switch over to a clean style but still retain the darkness that previously stalked, albeit more melodic and atmosphere.  Again, this is another catchy part that provides a nice hook to keep me interested.  

The band only has three members, but they sound like there are more…the album has a nice full, rich sound that takes up every inch of space and time—but not more than is needed. With 5 songs and a runtime of about 40 minutes, this is lean doom metal album that gives exactly what it needs, nothing more and certainly nothing less.  

“The Dark Age,” flows so damn smoothly with a lot of really cool pieces that fit together like a doomed-out puzzle.  I love the Gothic tinged riffs in the beginning and how they open up the song to yet another catchy melody that runs alongside the hellish, doomy riffs. Around the 3:44 mark, some of the best melodies I’ve heard so far this year appear alongside truly abrasive death growls.  It’s massive, epic, and exactly how doom metal should be.  The song fades out as the 5-minute mark approaches, stripping itself down to reveal an emotional, and perhaps even beautiful, passage of clean instrumentation.  

This album is adventurous but very subtle about its approach but I like that because it makes each song feel like its own self-contained world yet it makes sense for the album as a whole.  While I suggest listening to the album from beginning to end, each of the five songs are wholly enjoyable on their own.

I need to praise the pacing too.   It was very smart to put the short instrumental “Unholy Ghost,” in between the four doom epics. It provides a nice respite from the slow-motion devastation while having an atmosphere that is pretty damn cool on its own. 

“Covered In Blood,” might be the most bleak and violent song on the album.  It is a stark contrast, at least in places, to the previous three.  The guitars here tread the line between a death metal tone and a Gothic embrace—the song is at once both brutal and sorrowful and I find it might be my favorite song on the album because of its duality.  While the first half is prime death/doom, the second half is centered with smatterings of lead guitar and clean rhythms that build back to a roaring finish. 

If that song is my favorite, then the stellar title track is right on its heels.  The bass intro builds a sense of urgency within seconds while the clean guitars add a layer of trepidation.  Honestly, this part of the song made me feel anxious and a little worried.  The song grows more sinister as the second past, not the last of which is because of the insane vocals.  The halfway point of the song is interesting because it pulls back, if just slightly so, to let the lead guitar shine before the vocals change into a clean shout that, in turn, transforms into a sort of blackened scream.  Hell of a way to finish a hell of an album!

“Graves For Gods,” is roaring doom metal album that isn’t afraid to embrace dark and light elements equally, without losing potency on either extreme.  Highly recommended. 

Rating: Excellent