Review / 200 Words Or Less
Gravehill
Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery

A389 (2011) Jon E.

Gravehill – Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery cover artwork
Gravehill – Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery — A389, 2011

Gravehill are a band formed from Gehenna. While the band have persevered and continue on to this day this demo is the only recording with this lineup. Formed to fully embrace the members love of old school death metal and hardcore. This lineup including the Gehenna vocalist Mike recorded this and pressed maybe 100 copies total on cassette and cd upon it's initial release. Having since become a hard to find piece of the 7 crowns legacy A389 did the right thing and picked it up to make a real release of it.
What of the music itself? If you took Terrorizer and Gehenna and mangled the corpses together Gravehill would be the inevitable result. Trading in much of the hardcore tendencies of Gehenna for grinding metallic riffs and demonic content this shows the members love of metal. The guitars blaze along creating semi melodic (not Gothenberg style) backdrops for what may be the most demonic vocals Mike Cheese has ever committed to tape . This only helps to convey the truly evil lyrical imagery within the lyrics. The music is played in a very non technical style instead they rely on being menacing and fast throughout. This does little to hurt the band as their style is meant to be simple.
This piece of Gehenna's history has been given an opportunity to be re-birthed, remastered and given it's proper due. While it will most likely not appeal to most new metal fans due to both it's recording style and lack of pretense it does shine a light on the influences that the members carry and how musically adept they are. As homage goes this is near the top as for something new this does little to bring something truly different to the table. The simple fact is this is old school style death made for those that love it by those that love it.

7.8 / 10Jon E. • August 15, 2011

Gravehill – Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery cover artwork
Gravehill – Practitioners Of Fell Sorcery — A389, 2011

Related news

Gravehill adds new guitarist

Posted in Bands on August 1, 2010

Gravehill, Cardiac Arrest, Hod tour

Posted in Tours on June 13, 2010

Recently-posted album reviews

Social Distortion

Born to Kill
Epitaph (2026)

Rating: 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🚬 / 10 (8 Tipped Martini Glasses and a Cigarette) Remember that movie Fantastic Voyage, where a miniaturized submarine gets inserted into a person's bloodstream on a mission to clear a blood clot in the brain? Well, consider yourself in luck: I’m infiltrating your brain with my own fantastic journey with Social Distortion, which goes all the way back … Read more

Big Circle

Big Circle
Independent (2026)

There are plenty of supergroups that exist largely because of the names on the marquee. Big Circle feels different. While Glenn Mercer (The Feelies), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), Dave Weckerman (The Feelies), and Dan Francia (Speed the Plough) all bring decades of musical history to the table, this debut EP isn't interested in nostalgia or individual spotlights. Instead, it succeeds … Read more

Nocturnal Prose

Western Interests
Total Agency (2026)

I’ve been reading Cory Doctorow’s latest book “The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI” a scathing review of the current state of artificial intelligence wherein he seeks to pop the AI bubble. In the book’s central metaphor Doctorow identifies the centaur as someone whose work is improved upon by technology vs the reverse centaurs who are competing with and/or … Read more