Graveyard 

Into the Mausoleum

Black Seed Productions 2008

The European scene is bursting at the seams right now with outstanding traditional death metal bands such as Necros Christos, Hooded Menace, and so on.  Another addition in this putrid stew of fear and horror is Graveyard from Spain!  On their debut EP they take hints from the Stockholm style and meld them with the early primitive Florida scene a la Death and Massacre.  After an intro the title track claws its way out of the earth in what reminds me of a smashing together of Death and early Edge of Sanity.  The Subterranean bass guitar break at the 1:53 mark is reminiscent of Autopsy's Mental Funeral.  Laying bare their love for Swedish death metal on Ritual with a characteristically down-tuned melody along the lines of early Dismember/Carnage.  Unleashed's Before the Creation of Time is the next musical reference to be unveiled on the galloping main riff that carries One of Them.  Buzzsaw guitars and murky ghoulish vocals greet us on King of the Graveyard.  The final track on this 7 song EP(5 songs plus an intro and outro) is a cover of Death's Zombie Ritual.  It is pretty true to the original though much muddier in sound, giving it a feeling as if it were unearthed from some long forgotten crypt.  The production could use a little sharpening up though as it is more of a demo quality. I think that Graveyard is a little derivative at times however they still have an energy and a passion for old school traditional death metal which manages to push any of these limitations beneath the surface and in the end I really enjoy Into the Mausoleum.  I look forward to future material from these death fiends.