Band: Graveworm
Title: Fragments Of Death
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Distribution: PIAS
Release date: October 21st 2011
Review: CD

Graveworm… Honestly, I did not dislike them (that much) in the past, yet I didn’t really like this band either. My problem was the over-approachable catchiness, the predictability, the fake identity behind Graveworm’s existence. It isn’t but my personal opinion, because apparently the band has an enormous fanbase all over the Western Worlds. And even I need to agree: the band did evolve a lot, positively, throughout the years, and their albums became stronger and stronger. What they did in the nineties wasn’t but average, the early 2000’s brought a limitedly acceptable progression, and as from they signed to Nuclear Blast and Massacre (yet this isn’t but a coincidence, which has nothing to do with the label – except for the ability to put more money in studio time and material, in a ‘better’ [read: more expensive] studio with a more ‘famous’ [read: more expensive] producer / engineer), they created, more and more, an own identity, scarred yet nice to experience at the same time.

Fragments Of Death is the newest step within this Alpine band’s history. And I won’t create any tension, so here it is: this is the best Graveworm-album to date!

Thank you, and enjoy…

[[[ our dear Concreteweb’s CEO Dirk will smack my naked ass if I would finish my review right here, so hereby some more information – even though some ass-smacking would be verrr…; no, not by you, sweet Dirkske ;-)
Anyway, Fragments Of Death is without any doubt the most obscure, ominous, suffocative and mesmerizing album to date. The atmosphere is, from the beginning to the end, asphyxiating and hypnotive, even though the musical approach differs a lot. When it comes to the latter, well, the speed, for example, is mostly up-tempo, yet with lots of breaks and changes, including dark-doomish as well as fierce and fast outbursts. The songs, of course, we’re talking about Graveworm, are melodic and Gothic-influenced; that’s not different from the past. But the dense, organic and overpowering result called Fragments Of Death is the band’s most convinced / convincing fist in the face of any fake entity.
And I’ll repeat: thank you, and enjoy… ]]]

Thank you, and please do enjoy again…

87/100

Ivan Tibos.