01. Condemned Identity
02. A Darkened Window
03. Frailty
04. Shards
05. Silent Echoes
06. Voice Within The Void
07. Fragments Of Psyche
08. Reason Denied
Choosing to emulate Death is like playing ‘musician’ on hard; choosing to emulate Human is like playing on expert mode.
It’s almost cliché to start a review about Gruesome by mentioning that the band are the musical equivalent of LARPing the band Death; those who have listened to the band before know they worship the music of Chuck Schuldiner as the (un)holy grail of metal (not a bad band to aspire to be). It is important to mention this though, almost as a disclaimer, for those unfamiliar with Gruesome, or even Death, to give pertinent background information. Basically, if you like what you hear here, go listen to Death now; hell, even if you don’t like what you hear, go listen to them anyway.
So, the originality score for Silent Echoes is a forgone conclusion, but what about the rest of it? Well, it’s no Human, but it’s a good Neanderthal, I mean, proto-Human, sharing a lot in common but missing a few bits to really take it to the next level. While the band certainly have the chops to emulate their heroes, they don’t have the spark that Schuldiner possessed to give it that magic touch, nor do they have the will to impress much of their own personality to compensate. Still, this isn’t to say that Gruesome don’t scratch the itch for quality technical death metal; Silent Echoes is an enjoyable listen, and one that features solid musicianship among some strong tracks that will have listeners satiated.
“Voice Within The Void (Astral Oceans)” has some of the best Sean Reinert-esque drumming courtesy of Rios, who, much like Reinert on Human, proves to be the secret weapon and highlight of the aforementioned track. Alongside the quality riffing of Harvey and Gonzalez on “Reason Denied” and “Shards”, you have top-level chefs following an established recipe: a winning formula if there ever was one. Also, Harvey’s mimicking of Schuldiner’s vocals are spot on, his performance on “A Darkened Window” channeling Schuldiner to a tee.
What does hold Silent Echoes back, beyond the established aforementioned, is that by choosing to emulate one of the best Death (I prefer Spiritual Healing myself) and death metal albums of all time, unless you do manage to outdo your heroes, you’ll only come off as a watered-down version of what came before. However, as a standalone album Silent Echoes is highly enjoyable, and the mix of old school feel alongside its technical death metal attack is top-notch.
If you are looking for old school technical death metal, or spend your days trawling through Death bootlegs for something new, then Silent Echoes is something you should check out. For all the talk of originality, beneath it all is an enjoyable album with solid musicianship.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | – |
| Originality: | – |
| Production: | 8 |
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Written on 20.05.2025 by
Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I’m not listening. |