DEGRAVED hailing from Seattle, Washington are a Death Metal band. So far, they released one demo in 2020 and one EP in 2023. Both combined have a length of about 33 minutes and were re-released via Mexican Death Metal specialists Chaos Records. The re-release starts with the four songs of the 2023 EP “Whispered Morbidity” and the opening track “Crematortured” is a mixture of mid-tempo and fast parts. The guitar riffing is crushing, and the melodies are spine-chilling. The vocals are growls mainly at the low end of the guttural range without any distinct tonal shifts. It is a track without any technicality. Things change slightly with “Compulsory Bloodletting”, which has a bit more versatility in the riffing and more variations in tempo and rhythm. The melodic framework is blood-freezing. In terms of the technical aspects, the lead guitar solo is very contributing and delivers an extra dimension to the track. “Reduced To Bone And Ash” starts at a measured tempo with a stomping rhythm. The riffing is devastating, and the melodies are grim. As the verse and chorus parts are head-banging, there is a break played at crazy speed. There are a few lead guitar contributions, and they all add to the dark atmosphere of the track. “Reduced To Bone And Ash” seamlessly transitions into the EP title track “Whispered Morbidity”, which maintains the stomping rhythm of the preceding track for a while until the hammering starts at breakneck speed. There are a few twists and turns in tempo and rhythm, but the focus of the track is put on the delivery of a freezing atmosphere. This is especially prominent during the final part of the track when the lead guitar solo starts.

 The three demo tracks start with their title song “Exhumed Remnants”. The bone-chilling sound continues in principle in terms of tempo, riffing, and melodies. However, it all sounds very muddy, and the vocals are hardly to recognize as such. “Corpse Fermentation” is one of the tracks with a variety of rhythms with the fast and pummeling parts being the most prominent. The final track “Incinerated” is then the fastest track of the demo. In terms of the overall sound, the demo tracks are all very simple without any technicality and the lack of sound quality does not help to make the songs distinct from each other. DEGRAVED re-released the seven songs of their discography to date. “Whispered Morbidity & Exhumed Remnants” is very raw and simple Death Metal, based on a bone-chilling melodic framework. Most of the songs sound very similar, the songs have hardly any technicality, and there is a lot of room for improving the songwriting in future releases. I think, it was a bad idea to release the demo songs without re-recording them as the sound quality is very poor. Will “Whispered Morbidity & Exhumed Remnants” be remembered by future generations of Death Metal fans? I do not think so.