Review: Radiated Remains by Graveripper

When talking about blackened thrash as a style, it's easy to forget that black metal isn't always about an aural assault of tremolo riffs and minor chords, but also about developing an atmosphere of darkness and evil. The best blackened thrash bands tend to be the ones able to balance this atmospheric sense with the relentless nature of thrash rather than those just blasting together different riffs, and on their latest EP Radiated Remains, Graveripper certainly achieve this.

Formed in 2018, these Indiana natives have conjured up the ability to transport back to a singularity point in metal history, where the strict lines we now see between thrash, death and black metal are blurred. It's been displayed well on their previous releases, and while Radiated Remains is definitely a slicker affair, the band have maintained the same visceral energy. Sonically the band combine a strong base of Teutonic-leaning thrash metal with various touchpoints from Scandinavian death metal and Nordic black metal. Whilst undoubtedly all these tracks are thrash metal at their heart, Graveripper have the ability to write both ripping riff-tastic numbers as well as melodic emotive tunes. Their performances are exceptional too; the guitars always feel on-point but never sterile, the vocals are ferocious, the bass is well balanced and the drums are absolutely savage throughout.

The EP kicks off with the intro track Instinctive Extinction, and immediately the grim black metal atmosphere is created before the pace gets up and running with the delightfully gnarly thrash of Atoms Divide. Between the breakneck speed verses there's a classic catchy chorus, and the track moves into a wild second movement that brings a little melodic death and black metal to the mix. Following this is All Life Decays, another track filled with rabid headbanging thrash riffs but this time interspersed with an Immortal style chorus. The second half of the track begins with Graveripper's re-interpretation of Raining Blood before flowing into an Emperor style minor chord black metal melody.

Cherenkov Light opens with the most death metal riff on the album, hitting that dissonant sound of early Death or Obituary. However, in it's second half it moves into some more modern thrash stylings with plenty of flashy melodic leads cutting through the intense riffing. Complete Blinding Darkness really sees the band dig into that blend of atmosphere and energy, finding the sweet spot in the Uada-esque choruses. The last track King Killer definitely brings to mind the most recent output from Skeletonwitch with it's harmonising guitar leads and melancholic hooks, and the final movement in particular is swathed in epic sombre melodies.

What's most pertinent from having listened to this EP repeatedly is just how diverse it actually is, relatively speaking to the genre. Graveripper have stepped their game up considerably in production values from their previous releases, and have also showed a maturity in their use of black metal tropes. It's safe to say that at less than 18 minutes this is a record you will want to listen to over and over again, and each time I guarantee you'll become even more hooked.

Radiated Remains is released on June 4th via Wise Blood Records. You can pre-order it now via Bandcamp.