This is the first review of Grave Forsaken's live album that I've been able to find. It will appear in a local universities student guild run magazine, so a lot of people will read it.

I love the fact that the review refers to the band as "death metal", which their earlier material was leaning towards more than thrash.

Quote :

With song chorus lines like ‘Love makes it harder to hate’, ‘Christ is lord, Christ is king’ and ‘death, death, death on the cross, Christ died for our sins’ it’s no secret that the lads of Grave Forsaken, one of Perth’s up-and-coming Death Metal bands are in fact practicing Christians. This by no means is a drawback, as it hasn’t stopped them making great music as seen in their latest offering, their live album Light the Hall!

This live album showcases a decent cross-section of the band’s career this far; tracks like “North Wind” and “Destined for Ascension” feature some excellent death metal riffery while ‘Death on the Cross’ and the titular “Light the Hall” features some great headbanging beats with thumping double kick and heavy breakdowns, with some nice basswork. A particularly refreshing aspect of the album is that guitarists Vaughn Gregory and Elias Salmela feature excellent dual guitar work, incorporating driving rhythm passages with higher lead work. It’s a solid listen that’s for sure, but the vocals, while clear could do with more tonal range.

In terms of production dynamics and overall sound quality, the live recording felt a little lacking in some areas; the guitars sound a little muddy during some of the lower, powerchord-heavy parts, while the higher, treble-based picking sounds clear and sharp. The drums could sound a little ‘bigger’ but this doesn’t feel like a fair criticism since this recording is all done live.

All together, this live album is a great listen as a piece of local metal, and although the strongly Christian themes may be confronting to some, the open minded will find a solid death metal listen with these guys. With their new album ‘Fight to the Death’ on the horizons the Perth metal scene has something to look forward to.

Tim Sezer