Gruesome - Silent Echoes [Compact disc]

GRUESOME return with Silent Echoes, a ferocious Death Metal onslaught, fueled by progressive, razor sharp musicianship. Celebrating over a decade as the finest purveyors of old-school Death Metal inspired by the legendary Chuck Schuldiner and the many iterations of Death, the new album sees GRUESOME transition away from the no-frills riff-fests heard on their Savage Lands and Twisted Prayers LPs, and shift towards a more nuanced form of terror. Silent Echoes is the quartet’strue put up or shut-up moment for one simple reason: It was written and recorded in the spirit of DEATH’s 1991 progressive death metal masterpiece, Human.

The prolonged gestation period between GRUESOME albums was the combination of several factors, yet none more significant than the untimely and unexpected passing of Cynic and Human-era Death drummer Sean Reinert in 2020. Reinert was the best friend and mentor to GRUESOME drummer Gus Rios and was originally slated to produce the album. Instead, Rios, along with vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey, lead guitarist Daniel Gonzalez and bassist Robin Mazen, turned Silent Echoes into a tribute to Reinert, whose influence and presence on Silent Echoes is everywhere.

Silent Echoes is GRUESOME’s transmutation into the complex, jazz-influenced fields ploughed on Human. As Harvey states, “there’s less winking at the audience on this one,” which is true: The overtly intentional homages found on the band’s previous two albums have been replaced with fluid, agile drum work from Rios, as well as spiraling, multi-faceted guitar riffing from Harvey and Gonzalez, the latter responsible for the album’s melodic leads.

At a time when the thirst for all things Chuck Schuldiner remains unquenchable, leave it to four accomplished, true, well-intentioned death metal veterans to help continue the man’s legacy.