You all know that even though Black Metal used to be the most unique and extreme Metal genre, it grew larger as time grew by and now it contains many different styles. You can find extreme Black Metal, brutal Black Metal, epic Black Metal and all that shit. The thing is that you just wonder and try to understand where all the good Black Metal bands have gone. Melody is always welcome in every genre, but we always have to keep things up to a point where they are permitted. Right?

Italian black metallers GRAVEWORM belong to the melodic Gothic/Black Metal category. I do not accuse them for what they play of course and in no way I deny music's progress, but sometimes we have to think about how the whole thing started. If you want whiny tunes, plenty of melodic lines, keyboards and suicidal lyrics, better prefer to stay in the Gothic fields. Black can be suicidal, but when a Black Metal musician wants to die, he wants to take the whole world with him. Gimme some hate guys! Where is all the brutality?

I don't know if the fact the Stefan Fiori is ABIGOR's ex-singer tempts you to listen to this album, but let me remind you that this band is NOT like ABIGOR. Ok, it is not a shitty band for the style they have chosen to play, but it is not the band I would prefer to listen to when I am home. Anyway, in Collateral Defect, the band tries to be a bit more extreme and is based more on speed and harsh vocals than in melody and keyboards. Even though I wasn't attracted by the band's style, while listening to this album I understood that their Engraved In Black (2003) era fits them better. In Collateral Defect, they try to sound thrashier, more brutal and definitely catchier. The fact is that they don't seem to be able to do such a thing. There are times the keyboards sound like they are coming out of the blue to spoil the whole aggressive atmosphere.

The band has to choose whether they will play this catchy and less melodic Black Metal or return to their old classic style that mixes Gothic with melodic Black Metal. As I previously said, my opinion is that GRAVEWORM should return to their melodic side and leave the brutal stuff for the people that can handle them.

PS: If the music was as it used to be, the rating would definitely be higher. And the cover of the classic I Need A Hero is definitely not one of the best ones I have heard.