Grave Robber - "Inner Sanctum"

Grave Robber - Inner Sanctum

2009, Retroactive

1. Inner Sanctum

2. Detonation A.D.

3. Shadows

4. Altered States

5. Fear No Evil

6. I'm Possessed

7. Tell Tale Heart

8. The Night Has Eyes

9. Valley of Dry Bones

10. Men In Black

11. I Spit On Your Grave

12. Children of the Grave

Grave Robber is a really, really fun band and Inner Sanctum is a really, really fun album. The band started out as a horror punk band influenced by acts like The Misfists and Alice Cooper. This latest platter finds the band adding a few more metal and rock elements to their sound. I have to say this is the most catchy, most immediately enjoyable record I've heard since Devin Townsend's Addicted. And if you know my affection for all things Devin you know how much of a compliment that is. The songs are short and punchy, offering you an undeniable hook and melody and they're the perfect length so that when you think you've had enough, the song ends. You'd have a hard time not singing along to songs like "Altered States" which contain plenty of "Whoa-oh!"s to belt out. However, my favorite track has got to be the 50's do-wop inspired "Tell Tale Heart." This is a song that manages to somehow come off as heavy, romantic, moving, and slightly creepy all at the same time. My only concern is whether this disc will have staying power. Since it's so easy to get into and it goes by pretty fast (it is a punk record after all) it could be easy to digest everything pretty quickly. As of now I'm content to sing along and rock out. I'm so glad I found Grave Robber when I did - they're a great band that show great promise for the future.

UPDATE: Despite my concerns that this disc wouldn't have any staying power, I've found the opposite is true. I'm liking it more and more. I've also got the hard copy now. It's a digipak but a really cheap one. There's not even a CD tray - only a rubber stopper that the disc hangs on. You have to try and screw the CD off the stopper. It's very annoying. Thankfully, I'm listening to it on my ipod but imagine trying to do that every time you want to listen to the album? Ugh!

Useless Fact: Grave Robber hail from Ft. Wayne, IN - the city I went to college in. In fact I hung out with their old drummer, Chuck (aka El Muerte), when he was in bands like The Migraines and Rudisill.