New Zealand's SHALLOW GRAVE started exploring the dusk since around 2009. It took five years since their eponymous debut to release another offering and it was worth the wait. This four song EP weighs around 40 minutes of pure bleakness,sludgy sinister doomy and showing no mercy awesome stuff. "The Horrendous Abyss" is deep,loud and slowly having  grip on the soul.The production is original,while bass frequencies are round and heavy as fuck, the highs are well defined and the guitars are stuck between the two. Thereare many tempo variations which are very interesting since habitually in the doom genre we're used to progressions that comes to a finality and some repetitions. They are not a doom outfit. This is a blend of styles, ranging from doom but thy have sludgy vocals, excellent sound landscapes and atmospheres that put the listener to an overwhelming extra level. They share a great dose of drone and noise too. That first path to a different direction for the remaining minutes of the song going through a vortex that is pretty reminiscent of EVOKEN 's master skills.

"Garden of Blood and Bone" is more fast and energetic, with a  more chubby sound. Once again we're are traveling in a spiral of loudness,almost psychedelic possession. No one can be prepared for that ambush. They are well prepared, we are not. It's crushing and insidious. There is a great drumming part that reminds me of RUSSIAN CIRCLES. There is a powerful repetitive mantra that forces us to kneel and shout. For the last minute or so of the track is more ambient to let us digest what we were just exposed to. "Master of Cruelty" is a wall of sound, led by a repetitive mantra on drums, we are introduced softly to  another part of the realm of SHALLOW GRAVE. The guitars will please fans of EVOKEN or ESOTERIC. The vocals are lost in this maelstrom of pure desolation and rage. We are lost but there's still enough energy left to scream. DOPETHRONE and EYEHATEGOD  fans must listen to it.

"Threshold Between Worlds" is already the last one. No vocals just five minutes to let us part with this excellent EP. Majestic ambient drone and noise. They had the good idea to make it a track that doesn't extends to ten minutes or more,sometimes we are tempted to skip it when it's too much. Well this New Zealand project had me hooked with their debut release and i must say that they did pretty strong that time too.For fans of DOPETHRONE, EVOKEN, SEA OF BONES, and DOMKRAFT.