Indianapolis based black/thrash four piece GraveRipper formed in 2019 and have previously released three EP's , one being a split. Seasons Dreaming Death is their first full length album release. GraveRipper have made sure they have well and truly smashed out a proper rager with Seasons Dreaming Death with ten tracks of masterful fusion of fast paced thrash interspersed with some classic metal and infectious riffage! Fans of Exodus, Slayer and other similar thrash legends will appreciate GraveRipper, however there are inflections of Kreator and definitely some Iron Maiden styles in the pacing, structure and instrumentation as well which makes for good listening.
Seasons Dreaming Death is well structured and produced. A couple of tracks are a little muddy but not distracting. I love the high treble sound of Keegan Hrybrk's lead guitar alongside the dark melodic rhythm of Corey Parks. Chris Pilotte has his bass at just the right level to really pop through when needed and the talented drumming of Jacob Lett brings it all together with speed and precision. Corey Parks also takes on the vocal role, with an attack and inflection similar to that of Tom Araya (Slayer) , Mille Petrozza (Kreator) or Tom Angelripper (Sodom) but, of course, done in his own way. The tracks of Seasons Dreaming Death flow nicely into each other and it has a bit of a spooky seasonal theme to it with it being their take on the changing of the seasons and into Halloween/Samhain, a time where "the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest".
Stand out tracks for me are the very dark black metal crossed with speed metal "Divine incantation" going into the title track "Seasons Dreaming Death". The latter starting off as fairly standard fare but branches off on a monster head banging session. "Red Skies" brings a brighter touch yet still has a brutality to it. "Ripped & Torn Apart" is probably my favorite track as it has a huge, big sound to it. Ending with "Only Coldness" in an epic mosh inducing finale.
In terms of what makes Seasons Dreaming Death different to their previous releases, Parks describes it as a "refined expansion". He goes on to say that it is a "double down on what resonates with us, but also introduces some new arrangements, ideas, themes and influences. With this being a full length record there was a lot more Teutonic thrash worship that teeters on the line of death metal. We also took this as an opportunity to prove we can really play some straightforward malicious black metal riffing as well. All the while keeping the overall sonic goal of sewing black and thrash together in our own unique ratio".
Seasons Dreaming Death was engineered, mixed and mastered by Wesley Heaton at Postal Recording with drums engineered by Niko Albanese at Primary Sound Studios. The album artwork by Adam Burke depicts a moody and evil grave-scape and the bands logo, by Brainvault Illustrations, is in keeping with thrash and death metal bands these days in that if you stare at it long enough you will eventually figure out what it says. Seasons Dreaming Death will be available on physical formats of cassette, CD and vinyl as well as a digital download from Wise Blood Records on 25th August.
