I’m here today to talk about punishment. Not modern-day methods but the actions that were done in the moment of the infraction, theft meant the loss of a hand; some no-no’s could get one blinded with their ears cut off, and some could get your ass impaled or crucified, hung, drawn and quartered… you get the hint. Not only that but the tools used to meter out the abuse were designed to be as terrifying to look at as they were in their uses.

These thoughts crossed my sick mind as “13″ started to slice through my speakers. These are huge, wooly mammoth-sized riffs delivered in head-crushingly devastating fashion. Degrave is unrelenting in their delivery, and this track starts with a groove and a half; the bass and drums come together like a bus and a freight train, the guitars have this dirty and gritty tone that reminded me of Obituary, even vocalist Dylan Volmert sort of sounds like John Tardy (that’s a compliment dude).

Volume is Degrave’s third full-length release after 2017’s Full-Tilt and 2018’s self-titled Degrave so now here I am with Volume and goddamn if this isn’t a heavy slab of Missouri Death Metal. Title track “Volume” is a rock-solid death march that grabs you by the throat and throttles until your neck snaps. The lyrics are defensive of the music that brings Metal Heads together, “Raised on Hate and Hooch” is just an all around thrasher that’s built on this monumental riff and just rides that for it’s 2:45 length.

“Sanguinated Sacrifice” starts with a haunting riff, it captures the essence of what Death was creating on Scream Bloody Gore, the song itself is a slow creeping track, bringing in some thrashing bits where necessary. On the other end of the spectrum we have “Billy’s Way” which satisfied my need for fat-assed riffs, with this track and the insane double bass fueled “The Banshee” which starts with this infectious riff that will have that head of yours banging in no time, constant reader. “Overlord” crushes with Hardcore DRI precision while “Badge and Gun” had me checking my fucking rear view because of the police sirens in the ending two minutes of the song. But it’s the emotional “L’Appel Du Vide” an instrumental that closes this Midwestern beast with a flourish. A fitting end for a pretty brutal album when all is said and done.

So do I recommend this album, that’s a resounding yes, good buddy. I hear a bit of Demiricous in “Transmission Overdrive” which got me excited too, add in some influences including Toxic Holocaust, Overkill and Exodus and these are these are just some nasty fucking riffs. So go check out this Missouri beast and thank me later.

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