“If we’ve done our job as a band correctly, this EP should transport the listener to those days of low-budget gross-out movies and death metal demos dubbed onto blank tapes and disseminated via the postal service.” – Matt Harvey, GRUESOME.
“Raped By Darkness,” the new single from GRUESOME‘s forthcoming EP Dimensions Of Horror has just premiered via Revolver Magazine.
Issues guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey of the latest track on deck, “‘Raped by Darkness’ is another tune that has its origins in the ‘Horror’ section of the video rental places that dotted the landscape of the mid-1980s like zits on a teenage metalhead’s face. When I was nine or ten-years-old, it was a never-ending ordeal to convince someone’s parent or guardian to rent R-rated, or even better, unrated, horror movies for me and my friends to watch. Sometimes I would just browse the aisles and be captivated by the cover art for movies like Street Trash, Future Kill, and Basket Case, which I never actually got to see until much later. Despite, or maybe because of, their limited availability, I lived for gory flicks like The Toxic Avenger, Re-Animator, Hellraiser, and Evil Dead, which is what this song is based around. In the tradition of great death metal cuts like ‘Dead By Dawn,’ and the oh-so-subtle ‘Evil Dead,’ this is an ode to Sam Raimi’s horror masterpiece, but ours is lyrically centered around one particular scene – the infamous ‘tree rape’ bit. The music is, of course, directly modeled after our raison d’etre, Death, particularly the Scream Bloody Gore era that this EP is centered around. When I first discovered death metal, back in 1989 (you know, when dinosaurs and mullets roamed the earth), it resonated with me immediately and very specifically as the audio equivalent of all those VHS movies about the occult, deranged killers, and inter-dimensional fiends. If we’ve done our job as a band correctly, this EP should transport the listener to those days of low-budget gross-out movies and death metal demos dubbed onto blank tapes and disseminated via the postal service. To fully appreciate the song and immerse yourself in the vibe we’re trying to create, we recommend cranking this tune on cassette via a $20 Radio Shack boom box with a Dark Angel sticker on it, while chugging cheap American beer (preferably stolen from someone’s parents) in an empty drainage ditch covered in graffiti while passing a joint of skunk weed around with your friends. Join us in some unabashed nostalgia.”
“Raped By Darkness” can be heard now courtesy of Revolver THIS LOCATION.
The album’s first single, “Forces Of Death,” is also available for streaming at THIS LOCATION. Additionally, you can watch a trailer featuring new music from Dimensions Of Horror HERE.
Produced by the band and co-produced and recorded by Jarrett Pritchard at New Constellation RMP Studios in Orlando, Florida, Dimensions Of Horror is a gruesome salute to Death’s iconic Scream Bloody Gore full-length and once again features cover art by the legendary Ed Repka (Death, Atheist, Massacre et al). A six-song slab of grisly, bone-breaking death metal jams, Dimensions Of Horror continues the development of GRUESOME‘s homage to the founding fathers of the genre and proves that no matter the decade, old-school death metal is always relevant, savage, and irresistible.
Dimensions Of Horror is due out May 20th, 2016 on CD, LP, cassette and digitally worldwide. Physical preorders via Relapse.com can be found HERE, and digital preorders via GRUESOME’s official BandCamp page HERE.
Over the past year, GRUESOME has performed at numerous festivals worldwide, including Full Terror Assault Fest, Obscene Extreme America, and Netherlands Deathfest. The band has also been confirmed for Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore this coming May 26th through the 29th. Stay tuned for more festival announcements.
Multi-state death metal project GRUESOME was born out of guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey and drummer Gus Rios’ mutual involvement with the Death To All tours. Harvey served as frontman for the original mini-tour and Rios both performed “Baptized In Blood” and worked with DTA drummer Sean Reinert on the following US tour where Exhumed filled in as support. After discussing and discarding the idea of putting together another incarnation of DTA to focus exclusively on Death’s first two albums, Harvey half-jokingly suggested that the pair write their own songs in intentional homage to the band. It wasn’t long before the idea gained traction, and the band soon had five tracks written. With Harvey writing in California, Rios recruited Possessed guitarist Daniel Gonzalez and Derketa bassist Robin Mazen to record the material in Florida, while Harvey tracked his vocals on the West Coast.
GRUESOME released a pair of single-song demos in 2014, and was subsequently signed by Relapse Records in June of that year, with a full-length release (recorded in Florida, of course) planned for early the following year. The result of those recordings would become the band’s debut full-length Savage Land, a truly harrowing slab of Leprosy-styled death metal released in April 2015. It’s clear from the song quality on Savage Land that GRUESOME is humbly determined to keep Death’s classic sound alive as faithfully as possible, and the critical acclaim for the record has reflected the band’s dedication. Metal Injection called Savage Land, “the advanced, dripping-rot-from-the-corners-of-a-coffin, putrid, vile death metal throwback that you’ve been waiting for,” while Exclaim gushed, “the enthusiasm alone on Savage Land is awe-inspiring.” Now, GRUESOME has returned stronger than ever with their new EP Dimensions Of Horror. With an all-star lineup and unmatched songwriting skills, GRUESOME is willing and able to propel the historical sentiment and sincerity of Death’s spirit into the present.
For coverage of GRUESOME, in North America contact liz@earsplitcompound.com, in the UK contact pip@relapse.com, in the rest of Europe contact frank@pettingzoo.nl, and elsewhere contact bob@relapse.com.
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