UMUR "Soulless" is the third full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Century Media Records in June 1994. It´s the successor to "You'll Never See..." from September 1992, although the two full-length studio albums are bridged by the February 1993 "...And Here I Die... Satisfied" EP. "Soulless" would be the last release to feature lead vocalist/bassist Jörgen Sandström. He would later join Entombed as their permanent bassist. A position he held for a number of years.

Grave took a slightly different direction on "Soulless" adding more groove to their original "straight" old school Swedish death metal sound. This is not groove metal by any means, but there are certainly riffs and sections on the album that lead my thoughts in that direction (I´ll stretch as far as to call it groove based death metal). Maybe best examplified on the opening track "Turning Black", where the band also experiment with some aggressive distorted vocals instead of their usual deep growling. In fact the growling vocals on the album have in general taken on a more aggressive tone, compared to the more monotone brutal growling on the early material by the band. The vocals are also more intelligible now. It wasn´t an unusual thing to bring more groove into death metal in those days. Acts like Entombed and Konkhra did this with success around the same time.

"Soulless" features a brutal, raw, and powerful sound production that suits the music well, and "Soulless" is a good quality release on most parameters. While old school death metal purists may wrinkle their nose at the more groove oriented sound on "Soulless", I actually think it suits Grave well. The tracks are easier to tell apart than the case were on earlier releases and there are quite a few kickass groovy riffs on the album too. Not everything is on the level of the best tracks on the album (there are in other words fillers on the album), but I think the quality of the tracks and the album in general are pretty high. I´d say a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "...And Here I Die...Satisfied" is an EP release by Swedish death metal act Grave, bridging the gap between the band´s second and third full-length studio albums "You'll Never See (1992)" and "Soulless (1994)". The EP was released through Century Media Records in February 1993.

The music on the 6 track, 22:58 minutes long EP is old school Swedish death metal to the bone. "...And Here I Die...Satisfied" is a bit more dynamic and varied than the first two albums by Grave, but that makes sense since the material was recorded during two different sessions, and "Black Dawn" is a cover of the title track from the 1987 demo of their pre-Grave band Corpse. Tracks 1-3 were recorded in July 1992 (only a month after the recording of the material which ended up becoming "You'll Never See") and tracks 4-6 were recorded in October 1990 and are culled directly from the "Promo 91" demo release.

The sound productions on the two sessions are a bit different from each other, which makes for a slightly inconsistent listen, and none of the sound productions are particularly great. Raw, gritty, and brutal, but the material from the July 1992 session lacks the abrasive brutal sound of "You'll Never See", while the material which was recorded in October 1990 is almost too polished for the brutal and gritty aestethics of Grave´s music.

I´d say the title tracks and the Corpse cover are the highlights of "...And Here I Die...Satisfied". "I Need You" which is the last track from the July 1992 recording session is not a particularly interesting track (it was re-recorded and included on "Soulless" in a better version), and the demo material from the "Promo 91" demo release is decent, but not in any way as interesting as the studio versions of the same songs which would appear on Grave´s 1991 debut full-length studio album "Into the Grave" (Century Media Records, August 1991). "Tremendous Pain" excluded as it did not appear on "Into the Grave", but the point remains the same. "...And Here I Die...Satisfied" is a nice little stop gap release between two full-length studio albums, but it´s not a mandatory listen for the fans and definitely not for the casual death metal listener. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "You'll Never See..." is the second full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Century Media Records in September 1992. The band are down to a three-piece on "You'll Never See...", as bassist Jonas Torndal, who played on the band´s debut album "Into the Grave (1991)", left the band during the tour supporting the debut.

The music on the album is old school Swedish death metal in the more brutal end of the spectrum. The musicianship is solid and the sound production powerful. Downtuned riffing, ultra brutal yet slighty intelligible growling vocals and heavy and predominantly mid-paced beats. The material is effective but slightly one-dimensional. "You'll Never See..." is however a little more varied than "Into the Grave" was. The gore/horror and anti-christian lyrical themes are pretty typical for the style, which songtitles like "Morbid Ways to Die", "Brutally Deceased", and "Christi(ns)anity" also reflect.

So all in all "You'll Never See..." is a good quality old school Swedish death metal release, but it´s of course a minor issue that an 8 track, 36:56 minutes long album becomes a one-dimensional listen after listening to only a few tracks. Although Grave more or less go for an out and out brutal attack and you have to admire their uncompromising style, I still think "You'll Never See..." could have prospered from a more dynamic and varied songwriting approach. Upon conclusion it´s however still a good old school Swedish death metal album deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

UMUR "Into the Grave" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Century Media Records in August 1991. Grave were one of the most prolific names on the Swedish death metal demo scene in the late 80s/early 90s and "Into the Grave" firmly put them on the international death metal map too. The early beginnings of the band can be traced as far back as 1984 under the Rising Power, but in 1986 they settled on the Corpse monicker and released the 1987 "Black Dawn" demo before ultimately changing their name to Grave in 1988. They released quite a few demos and promo tapes in the late 80s/early 90s before being signed by Century Media Records for the release of "Into the Grave".

The music on "Into the Grave" is "classic" old school Swedish death metal. That means pretty simple, brutal, mid- to fast paced death metal. The tracks generally feature simple songwriting structures and few surprises, and Grave have more focus on sounding dark, rotten, and brutal, than on writing varied and structurally challenging material.

"Into the Grave" was produced by Thomas Skogsberg and Grave at Sunlight Studios and that´s audible. The downtuned guitars have that characteristic Sunlight buzzsaw tone and the production is generally dark, raw and brutal sounding. The vocals by frontman Jorgen Sandström are very brutal yet still relatively intelligible. The gore/horror lyrical themes are typical for the time and songtitles like "Deformed" and "Extremely Rotten Flesh" are tell that story.

The 11 tracks on the 42:24 minutes long album lack a bit in the variation department but other than that I´m pretty sure fans of the genre have endless praise for "Into the Grave"...and rightly so. While Grave´s music is arguably a little one-dimensional in nature, they are quite accomplished musicians and everything is delivered with great skill, conviction, and passion (without sounding technical in any way). "Into the Grave" is considered a seminal Swedish death metal release for a reason and fully deserves that stamp. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Necropsy - The Complete Demo Recordings 1986-1991" is a compilation album (3 disc) by Swedish death metal act Grave. The compilation was released through Century Media Records in April 2011. It compiles all the predominantly demo releases from the years 1986-1991 by pre-Grave act Corpse, Grave, and the Grave members side-project Putrefaction.

The compilation is presented more or less in chronological order although the Putrefaction tracks are placed earlier on the tracklist than they appear in the regular timeline (the Putrefaction demo "Painful Death" was released in March 1989 and bridges the gap between Grave´s second and third demo recordings "Sexual Mutilation" from February 1989 and "Anatomia Corporis Humani" from August 1989).

Generally "Necropsy - The Complete Demo Recordings 1986-1991" is a great documentation of the development of one of the seminal Swedish death metal acts from the late 80s/early 90s. From the brutal thrash of the Corpse demo materal, to the early death metal of the first couple of Grave demos, to the increased brutality and rotten morbidity of the later Grave demos, to the odd one out death metal/grindcore of the Putrefaction demo. The compilation features loads of great and raw old school death metal tracks, and in addition to the demo material, the listener is also treated to the four tracks from the 1991 "Grave / Deviated Instinct / Devolution" split release (Prophecy, 1991), which I don´t believe are available elsewhere. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.