Since I didn’t know any material of this band and I’m starting to dig black metal more and more lately, I decided to check out whether German/Italian melodic black metal band Graveworm is worth your money. They are about to release their sixth album, Collateral Defect.

 

I’ll start with saying that this CD certainly is worth your money if you’re a fan of the genre. The album contains a great balance between the darker side of the band and their gentle side. On the one hand you can taste the black metal atmosphere in every song but on the other hand it’s perfectly counterbalanced with the more melodic parts, which are mainly created by the keyboard. Some melodic vocals pass by on the album as well but those are only present in ‘Fragile Side’, which leaves the bigger part of the album in the darker atmospheres.

 

But there’s much more than ‘just melodic black metal’ in the music, which makes Collateral Defect a very enjoyable album. It’s kinda like a dessert with different flavours. There’s a fundamental black metal flavor with on top of it a melodic sauce. To finish it, there’s a typical metal riffing cherry. Sprinkle some drops of metalcore influences over it and you got yourself your dessert. Let me tell you, it tastes good!

 

The only minors of the album are the first and the last track. These are instrumental songs that do not fit the style of the rest of the album perfectly if you ask me. But what the hell, it still leaves another 8 songs for you to enjoy. I don’t know anything about previous material of Graveworm (how bad am I in doing this job?!) but I think that fans can buy this album blindly. To the other people: don’t be afraid to try this band, it might very well be a good step for you to start enjoying black metal a little more.