Have you ever listened to "Like an Everflowing Stream" by DISMEMBER? Imagine every filler and verse riff on that album, or a basic idea of them, thrown onto a small, barely 25-minute EP. That's GRAVERED's "Non". The fact that this is basic Swedish Death Metal isn't bad, but it's not a good thing either. This EP will pretty much just exist, and that's about it. It has hardly any originality or memorability, and when it does have substance, it isn't exciting. Poor execution and basic riffs plague this release.

Looking more closely at the riffs on here, almost all of them follow the same formula of tremolo one note for four beats, tremolo four other notes one after another for the next four beats, repeat. If it's not tremolo, it's power chords. There is one moment on "Podrido" where they use acoustic guitars for an interlude and slowly build up to the main riff. It isn't a good interlude, but it's much appreciated among all of the blandness.

For what it's worth, the content on here isn't terrible. It's just too similar not only to Sweden's Death Metal scene as a whole but also to itself. The writing is so formulaic that each riff sounds identical. Also, the one time the guitarist tries to solo (on "Ridden with Disease"), it has no purpose other than to exist. There is no soul or melody in his solo. It's just a bunch of notes. The only songs on here that stood out to me were "Non Cristo" and "Hail to the Legions that Rise from Flesh and Darkness". I enjoyed the latter not only because of its awesome intro but also because of the breakdown about four minutes in. It's unpredictable and heavy with a very well-executed tempo change. "Non Cristo" had great lyrical structure and tight composition. Although the riffs were not memorable, the structure was well done.

Production usually isn't something that stands out to me, but there is something off about this album. The overall production is perfectly fine. It's gritty and gnarly like Swedish Death Metal should be. But the last track is quieter than the previous four, and this is definitely a mistake that should be avoided in the future. As a whole, this EP isn't great, but it has potential. It's nothing to gawk at, but if GRAVERED can identify the best parts of this EP and build from there, they can make some cool music.