Grave Desecrator - Deathspells Rising (Despise the Sun Records) By: Mike Sloan

[6.5/10] A collection of demos and rare tracks, Deathspells Rising is a nice way of keeping Grave Desecrator’s name out there. Since the Brazilian blackened death metal warriors haven’t released anything since their last full-length (Insult) in 2010 and endured a lineup shake-up, allowing metalheads the world over to hear ultra rare songs from a band not immensely popular is a swell idea.

Considering the bulk of this release is comprised of early demo and rehearsal tracks, the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. The first few songs on Deathspells Rising come from their Demo 01, uh, demo from 2001, and they are surprisingly their strongest and best-sounding songs on the entire release. After “Rise to Destruction,” though, the album nosedives into a furnace of lousy production of moderately decent songs.

The unreleased rehearsal tracks are almost painful to listen to because of the muffled production and the live tracks sound like, well, live songs from a band still trying to find its collective footing.

If you’re a fan of Grave Desecrator and you absolutely need to have everything they’ve ever released, then Deathspells Rising will assist you in achieving your goal. However, if you can live without Grave Desecrator or aren’t a fan of primitive demo and rehearsal songs because they sound too raw, then it’d be wise to pass this up. It’s cool for what it is, which isn’t an overly spectacular collection of songs.

www.gravedesecrator.com