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Released on November 13, 2015 via Metal Blade Records
This album was a high point of anticipation for me. I had heard that Grave Pleasures was the new re-incarnation of Beastmilk, who released the most apocalyptic and memorable post-punk and death rock album of 2014. It stuck in such a strong way with the incredibly tight musicianship and hook ridden song writing, so the prospect of a new record a year later from a new version of the band was exciting to say the least.
The teaser tracks to Dreamcrash showed promise, cuts such as ‘New Hip Moon’ demonstrated what dragged me into the dark and creepy world that Beastmilk created on Climax. Driving guitars and an undeniable hook that makes their brand of atmospheric and punchy post-punk are in abundance on this track.
Another single that furthered the brilliance of what Climax brought, along with its perfectly matching video, is the thundering ‘Crying Wolves’. Mat “Kvohst” McNerney’s, vocals are demonstrated fantastically in the beginning as instrumentation eases off leaving him to belt out over the constant pound of the drums. The song crashes magnificently as it builds toward the end, creating a track truly different in the style they’ve showcased so far.
This was where my disappointment struck however. I found that the remainder of the album lacked the Beastmilk factor that were so prominent in the teaser tracks. I appreciate the fact that Grave Pleasures is a new band so they may want to shake off the previous bands attributes and create something new, but I feel that the sound they produce on this album is a slightly lacklustre version of what Beastmilk was.
The instrumentation is definitely there and is as powerful as it was before, and the vocals are as distinguished and well executed as expected. I think in the lyrics there’s something missing, I don’t get the engaging ghouls and graveyards feeling that Climax had, which is what I think was fundamental to the sound that Grave Pleasure’s hasn’t adapted or changed.
Perhaps going forward Grave Pleasures will transform fully on later releases, after only a year or so after the previous band’s release it may be too soon for that chrysalis to be ready to open. Dreamcrash could be enjoyed more as a secondary to previous works, tracks that have the trademark sound, but lack what made Climax distinguishable and in my view, important.
The records contains moments of promise, but moments are only fleeting, and so for me to move onto Grave Pleasures as the members have, they will need to really surprise me.
