Gruesome Summons the “Forces of Death”

Something about Gruesome really fingers the cockles of my heart. Their whole purpose as a band is to pay tribute to Chuck Schuldiner and Death, and from the sound of their last record they’re doing a great job. I just like that idea of being a tribute band that’s not just a tribute band, you know? The unabashed attitude of, “You like Death? You’ll love this!”

A perfect example of that is “Forces of Death,” the new track from their upcoming EP Dimensions of Horror. The song is straight-up “Zombie Ritual” worship. Frontman Matt Harvey (Exhumed) puts it well:

“…as you listen, close your eyes, imagine that you just got home from high school in 1987, ditched your Mongoose bike and ejected your brand new None Shall Defy cassette out of your Walkman to check your mailbox. Inside, there’s a sixty-minute TDK tape in the mail from an overseas pen pal with the Insanity 1985 rehearsal on one side and a dub of this new ‘mini-LP’ on the other.

You steal some of your dad’s beer, light up a joint before your parents get home and pop this bad boy in the stereo while you watch a worn out, second generation VHS dub of The Beyond on mute on a 125-pound television. Now you’re ready to enter the dimensions of horror and enlist in the forces of death.”

God, this makes me so nostalgic for VCRs and cassette players and time that maybe never was. Bless and keep you, Gruesome.

Listen to Gruesome’s “Forces of Death” and go full hesher. Dimensions of Horror drops May 20th on Relapse. If you want to hear Matt wax brutal some more, listen to his last appearance on our podcast.

[via The PRP]