HELLISH GRAVE is a five-piece Speed / Black Metal outfit from Brazil. Founded in 2011, the band set out to pay homage to the style made popular by the big names of the 80's - namely MAYHEM, VENOM, BATHORY, and POSSESSED. After digging to their roots and seeing what they found, they released their first full length in 2012 titled "At the Devil's Cross." Fast forward to the present, and we find "Hell No Longer Waits", released May 31st, 2019. The album contains 10 songs.

"Transylvanian Nights" opens the album with an enthralling soundscape leading into true first wave riffing reminiscent of the greats. Leading into a powerful, passionate guitar solo embodying the 80's with every note, and ending with just as much power as it started. After the solo, we fade out into our next track - "In Nomine Draculae." Much faster paced, and with clear intent, this song hits you in all the right places. Filled with authentic sounding riffing and flavorful drum composition, this song is five whole minutes of first-wave worship exemplified in all the right ways.

Following that, we've got "Revenant Awakening," which is an awesome follow-up to the previous track, making good on the promise of paying homage to the bands we all know and love. The songwriting here is truly evil sounding, and the vocals bring you back to the days when Black Metal wasn't all designer leather jackets and dorky sunglasses. Finishing with another exciting eighties guitar solo, this killer track leaves us begging for more as we move on to track four: "Over My Haunted Pact." This song slows the tempo a little more, and brings in some haunting synths that give off a very catholic vibe which lends a lot of atmosphere to the sound of this phenomenal recreation of what brought us the Black Metal we know and love today.

Flawlessly bringing life into the roots of the genre, this album is truly powerful. The songwriting is tops, and the guitarists of HELLISH GRAVE really cracked down on what it means to be true Norwegian Black Metal, despite the fact that they hail from Brazil. The biggest thing that stuck out to me with this album in particular is the vocals. They are unique, they are memorable, and they are evil! I feel that a lot of the time the vocals in Black Metal can be rather cut-and-paste, and personally I love when a vocalist really gives it his/her all and makes it their own. Having a unique sound to identify with is really important when writing Black Metal, and Hellish Angelcorpse has really hit the nail on the head here. Overall, I am very pleased with this album, and I look forward to future releases from HELLISH GRAVE.