Time Signature Blood of the pentagram...

Genre: heavy metal / black metal

Gravewürm have been around since 1990 and, as such, it might be tempting to assume that they are a second wave black metal band, embracing chaotic blastbeats, tremolo picking and lo-fi production. But that is not what you get. Not on this album.

On "Blood of the Pentagram", Gravewürm offers minimalistic music which is much more in the vein of first wave black metal, featuring elements from classic metal, mid-tempo thrash and even some doom-like features. Sticking to a minimalist formula, Gravewürm operates only with a couple of riffs per song, which are then repeated to the point of it being scarily entrancing (this is just about the only thing that this album has in common with modern black metal).

The guitars have a razor sharp crunching sound, which suits the chucking guitar riffs considerably well. The harsh, almost, whispered vocals have a certain sense of creepiness to them, but this is at the cost of power, and against the backdrop of the chucking guitar riffs and the dirty sounding guitars, the vocals seem very week.

Gravewürm's branch of black metal is an acquired taste, and their minimalist approach may not appeal to everybody. But, if you are into primitive first wave black metal, then you definitely should check out "Blood of the Pentagram".