Grave and I haven’t always seen eye to eye, but after Alcest we were in dire need of something with a bit more punch. Could the Stockholm death quartet deliver?

“This is for the ladies, but no panties on the stage please!”
- Ola Lindgren (vocals/guitar)

Lindgren opened up with his classic “...rock your socks off” comment which you have probably heard him say yourself, or seen in one of our other reviews, and after a short intro it was crushingly heavy and unrelenting death metal all the way!
Grave’s setup was as simple as their musical recipe – a simple tri-colour logo backdrop to let us know who we were listening to, a Swedish flag turned to resemble an inverted cross hanging from a stage amp, and two decorative skulls was all that was needed to set the tone. The music and the performance would have to carry the rest of the weight for a successful concert.

“We are the true guitar heroes!”
- Lindgren (vocals/guitar)

Lindgren went on to explain/excuse the band’s lack of energy by saying that it was Monday so they were all suffering hangover hell from the weekend – this was quite possibly the most surprising thing he could say!
And why was this?
Well, as Ronnie Bergerståhl was beating away on the drums, Lindgren, Tobias Cristiansson, and Mika Lagrén were unusually lively in their performance – more so than I have ever seen them before!
All three of the string-benders were constantly posing, equal parts true heavy metal style and just goofing off, and they were very inviting and open towards the audience, more often than not trying to get us to join in on whatever they were doing.

Grave had drawn a midsized crowd out into the sun for their show, and in the good weather a mosh was soon enough assembled in the middle of the ground. It was the first day of the festival, so while people still had their energy, they were not completely focused yet on what to do with it, so except for the mosh and a few crowd surfers here and there, it might have seemed like Grave wasn’t getting much of a response, but from standing there and feeling the atmosphere, I can assure you that the band was greatly appreciated!

For my own sake, I have not yet stepped on the Gravy train, but this show was entertaining enough to at least point me in the direction of the platform. Keep up your Monday hangovers guys, that’s apparently the way to go!

Setlist (incomplete):

Into The Grave
Morbid Ascent