Goregäng – Neon Graves

Band: Goregäng
Title: Neon Graves
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Release date: 20 May 2019
Country: USA
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

Opening this review by saying that I’m sitting here like an idiot with an idiot smile on my face is perhaps not the best way to go. I should probably say something serious and deep that would reflect my honest opinion of GOREGÄNG’s debut “Neon Graves”, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to skip that part. After all, I am sitting here like an idiot with an idiot smile on my face.

This album takes me back to when I first started to get into metal; the catchy riffs, the simple but oh so pounding drumming with a certain twist, the parts where I used to go „oh yeah I like this part!“. I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I had that sort of moment, but with Neon Graves there was such a moment in every single song!

The first run-through was more enjoyable than anything else. The intro track “A Cavity in Reality” has an eerie feel to it and I sort of thought it was preparing me for some serious business, however continuing with “False Flags” hardcore parts and scream-alongs, and “Cathedral of Chemicals” mix of crust and punk, I knew seriousness wasn’t the case. It really doesn’t get much simpler than this. Don’t get me wrong, the duos performance on this album is spot-on and it all sounds just like you want it to do, it’s not simple in that kind of sense. It’s very simple to enjoy this and the way the songs are written. The riffs sound easy enough to play that even I feel like picking up a guitar and give it a shot. It’s not easy to write catchy riff after catchy riff without it all sounding the same on each track, but GOREGÄNG manages to constantly pull it off. Given, it’s a typical Florida sound, but with first run-through the feeling of joy was above anything else.

By the end of the album, I knew a second run-through was in demand. Surely there had to be something I missed in all that feeling of joy.

As “Silence is Consent” and “Spray of Teeth” blasted for the second time I realized that my previous enjoyment of the album had completely clouded my ability to hear similarities to other bands or make any sort of a judgement. The catchy riffs I heard at first now sounded more ingeniously written. Simple, but I’m not mad at it!

During the third run-through it became apparent during “Weightless Sentinels” that a melodic element had snuck its way into the album. Sound vise the guitar stands out in this track, while the drums have so far been in the foreground.  How could I possibly not have noticed this before?? Perhaps because during the previous track, GOREGÄNG, I was too busy yelling “WE ARE GOREGÄNG!” while hoping I would one day get a chance to see this band live. Every song on here would be a head banger live!

Every single run-through of this album provoked a different feel to it. New things were discovered each time; however the feeling of joy was ever present. Had a listener never been introduced to this genre before, I would highly recommend this album as the easy listening and catchy parts in every single song never left me feeling like I was just waiting for it to be over. Au contraire, every time I came to the end of the album I knew I wanted more tracks.

Hearing the extremely clear, heavy and distinct production of simple riffs and drumming with choruses that are just the names of the songs screamed twice was the reason for the idiot smile. 7.5/10 Julia

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7.5/10 Victory is possible
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