Release Date March 6th, 2026
Format Digital
Genre Death/Black Metal
Origin Canada
Grave Mass is a Vancouver-based extreme metal collective formed from a stockpile of West Coast scene lifers. The roster draws from Zimmers Hole, 3 Inches Of Blood, Revocation, Just Cause, West Of Hell, Savannah, Process, Punch Drunk, and The Golers, a lineup that speaks louder than any press release. "This Is The Way" is their debut full-length, produced and mastered by Tim Creviston, released via Endgame Records.
When a supergroup of this pedigree drops a debut, the question isn't whether they can play, it's whether the sum justifies the parts. On "This Is The Way," the answer is mostly yes. The album operates in the blackened death metal space with speed metal aggression fueling the engine, and
the result is exactly the kind of dark, relentless assault you'd expect from musicians who cut their teeth on Slayer, Venom, and Morbid Angel. Sinister riff constructions collide with thunderous drumming and vocal delivery that never lets up.
The production by Tim Creviston deserves credit, raw where it needs to be, controlled enough that the performances breathe without losing the grime that makes this kind of music work. The guitar work shifts between intricate passages and full-throttle aggression without sounding academic about it. There's genuine menace in the songwriting, not just technique on display.
The album isn't without its soft spots. Some sections could have been pushed further or trimmed back, and a few moments suggest the band is still finding the outer limits of what Grave Mass specifically sounds like rather than what its members have done before. These are debut-record growing pains, nothing more.
"This Is The Way" is a very strong debut from Grave Mass. It is brutal, dark, fast and convincing, with enough craft behind the violence to make it more than a simple blast of aggression. Not perfect, not mild, and definitely not polite. For a first full strike, this is a damn strong warning shot.
|8.0
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