Grave Forsaken is Vaughan Gregory, Elias Salmela, Matt Skipworth and Tim Steadman. These four guys all met each other through playing in various amateur Christian metal bands. The band was formed in September 2004 when circumstances led the four guys to play a few songs at an event called "Fusion Idol" at Hillside Church in Western Australia. Grave Forsaken was intent to pursue evangelical outreach as their main focus. The guys spent the first couple of months of 2005 doing a demo, and self released it to a positive response in May. Then they started planning for the debut album. Work was undertaken on the debut album in September under the guidance of friend Ben Travia. The latter part of 2005 and early part of 2006 was spent working on 'Beside The River Of Blood'.
BESIDE THE RIVER OF BLOOD (2006) ROWE
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Line-up: Vaughan Gregory - Vocals, Guitar Elias Salmela - Guitar, Vocals Tim Steadman - Drums, Vocals Matt Skipworth - Bass, Vocals |
Well, what do you know? Someone actually enjoyed the mid-era Mortification-sound so much, they modeled their own band after it! Grave Forsaken sounds a lot like Steve Rowe anno the late 90's. Think 'EnVision EvAngeline' and 'Blood World'! It's the same mid-paced molten metal that sort of elevates any sub-genre, creating something unique. It's not really thrash, nor death, but at the same time it's both! And thanks to Grave Forsaken using all four members as vocalists on various songs, you get a much needed diversity in music that could quickly get stale. Vaughan Gregory is uncannily reminiscent of Steve Rowe! What I do miss here though is some blazing lead guitar-work. It's practically non-existent throughout the entire album, and on those few occasions they do try a solo, it sounds rather sloppy. Still, 'Beside The River Of Blood' have become quite an enjoyable debut album. And I enjoy it just as much as any of the Mortification albums it reminds me of.
Killer tracks: The Calling, Play It Loud, Death On The Cross, The North Wind
DESTINED FOR ASCENSION (2008) ROWE
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Line-up: Vaughan Gregory - Vocals, Guitar Elias Salmela - Guitar, Vocals Tim Steadman - Drums, Vocals Matt Skipworth - Bass, Vocals Additional musicians: Steve Rowe - Vocals on 3, 10 Daniel Holmes - Guitar Scott Devenish - Keyboards Kristy Gregory - Female Vocals on 9 |
Australia's Grave Forsaken returns with their sophomore album. Once again we're talking 90's era Mortification reminiscence, right down to the repetitive choruses on some of the songs! I'm not sure if i got it wrong the last time, but on this album I find Elias Salmela's vocals to be the closest to Mr. Rowe's. That is of course when Rowe himself is not joining in, as he guests on 2 of the songs here. So this is thrash and death tinged mid-paced heavy metal, without any surprises or unconventional twists. Grave Forsaken is a band that knows what they like, knows what they want to deliver, and deliver it well. I still miss some lead guitar-work (the solo in "Punishment" is great!), but the overall impression is even better than on the debut. I even like the bold evangelical lyrics. Grave Forsaken is not the most innovative band on the planet, but they are sure to please fans of this genre of metal.
Killer tracks: Warriors Of Light, Celebrity Judge And The Sinners Part II, Punishment, No Eye Has Seen
Grave Forsaken also appear on:
V/A - 'The Narrow Path: The CMR Compilation - Volume II'