Death Valley Driver – “Graveyard Dead”

It doesn’t take much time spent in the company of the filthy swamp metal peddled by Death Valley Driver before you’ll find yourself comparing their grizzly, sludgy groove to that churned out by Pantera towards the end of their career. Not that this is a bad thing, in fact it is most definitely not, but it does give you a good starting point for the rest of this grimy album.

In fact, I’d go as far as saying you don’t really need to put on Graveyard Dead to really get a feel for what this Canadian troop are about. From seeing the name Billy Anderson (The Melvins, Neurosis, Orange Goblin, High On Fire, Brutal Truth) on the liner notes to the band citing everyone from Motorhead to Corrosion Of Conformity as influences to their fuzzed-up filthy riffing, it would seem that all signs point down to the swamp. So, with all that to take in before you’ve even given Graveyard Dead a spin, you’d be right in expecting grooves the size of elephants and, thankfully, the band certainly don’t disappoint as gargantuan slabs of buzzing, sludgy-rock like Crimson Mask testify to.

Led from the front by the throaty, monstrous vocals of Dan Hodgson, Hodgson’s vocals sum up everything that you need to know about this album. Raw, gritty, and straight from the guts, if you listen closely, you’ll hear a melody underneath those swamp-monster roars but, at the end of the day, his vocals are designed to slot in to the swampy, grimy grooves that make up the spine of songs like Iron Jaw.

Bearing in mind the nature of this beast, it’s fair to say that Graveyard Dead is best experienced with headphones on and the volume cranked up as high as possible. It’s a heavy album packed full of delicious grooves and songs that maybe won’t get you smashing your head about, but are certainly hypnotic enough to ensure that, for thirty plus minutes, they’ve got your undivided attention.

Track Listing:

01. Black Vein
02. Bloodfeud
03. Ice Serpents
04. Crimson Mask
05. Graveyard Dead
06. Smoke Whip
07. Iron Jaw
08. Bull Of The Woods

Run Time: 32:06
Release Date: June 4, 2013

Check out the song “Bloodfeud”