One thing I loved instantly about To The Grave’s new record was the rawness of it.
Everyone’s a Murderer takes a step back, having more of a rough and raw sound to it, almost like a nod to early 2000’s production, which, much like myself, I think a lot of fans and listeners are going to appreciate here.
Kicking off the record we have Set Yourself on Fire (In Public), guitarists Jack Simoni and Nic Webb start the tune subtly with an eerie sounding chord and some slight talking over it as it progressively gets louder before popping off. This tune is visceral; Vocalist Dane Evans channeling all of his range on this one. From the ridiculous lows, to the classic highs, but he also channels a more metalcore style vocal at times in the chorus.
Next, we have Dxe or Die; which is one of my personal favourite cuts on the record. Evans starts this tune completely isolated, with his nasty lower vocal before it pops into a breakdown right away, slowing down even further as he yells “this is to the grave” before the tune picks up into the verse. This song is pretty much a two-minute breakdown and if that first line doesn’t get you going, the closing groove after “to the grave, motherfucker… dxe or die” will without a doubt get you moving.
We also see the band channeling some fresh territory on the record with cuts Gaschamber P.T and Eight Four Six One (feat. Sophie Wilcher). These tunes were instantly standouts as they add some incredible atmosphere and variety to the tracklist.
Gaschamber is a slow eerie instrumental interlude that builds up throughout its two-minute runtime. It’s almost kind of bordering the lines of a rock sound sonically, but drummer Rangi Barnes is going absolutely crazy with his double petal on the rhythm.
Eight Four Six One picks up the pace yet again, but I want to highlight Wilcher’s feature here. The song is brutal as the band is known for, but her vocals on the second half have this hopeful pop sound to them. My immediate thoughts when first hearing it was that it was refreshing, surprising and incorporated with ease. She added such a welcomed layer to the destruction and it’s one of my favourite moments on the record.
Concluding the record, we have Terrormilitary. This is a chuggy slow beater of a song but also features Evans isolated for a lot of his performance. It’s a really interesting one, the song kicks off with the band but when the verses kick in, they take a step back. Evans doing most of his low vocals for the majority with a layered talking vocal and a creepy synth behind him. The rest of the band comes back in from the middle point to the end, but in the form of a really slow breakdown before Evans closes us out with a classic pig squeal.
Everyone’s a Murder just shows that To the Grave have far more creativity in the tank. Bringing in some fresh influences and ideas that worked extremely well here.
As stated above, the production on this was a great choice as it makes the band sound even more brutal than on their last record. Though, the band is pushing their sound even further and those ideas definitely are some of my favourite moments from the band to date, I can’t help but feel there’s something missing here in comparison to their last outing.
7.5/10
Everyone’s a Murderer is out now on Unique Leader Records