Grave Robber - "Escaping the Grave"

Grave Robber - Escaping the Grave
2018, Rottweiler

1. Burial Ground
2. Into the Pit
3. The Evil Dead
4. Zombieland
5. The Beast Within
6. Lips of Blood
7. The Conjuring
8. The Swarm
9. The Night Evelyn Came Out From the Grave
10. Jet Black Tears
11. Escaping the Grave
Bonus Track:
12. Curse of the Werewolf (Remix)

Yay! Grave Robber is back! I always loves me some Grave Robber. They are consistently great. I don't think I've ever heard anything bad by them. Escaping the Grave continues this tradition. This release is a little bit faster and harder - a bit more punk and less metal than the previous ones. Though this album seems a little bit light on content. I don't think this is the band's fault. The band has had to endure a lot of crap since the last album - line-up changes, equipment problems, general life problems. So it's not a surprise that this one is shorter than the others with one track being an intro, the bonus track being a remix, and a cover ("Jet Black Tears"). Add to this that many songs are under two minutes in length. So... considering all they've been through we should be glad we got anything at all, let alone something that's just as fun and addictive as usual. Hopefully this means we'll get a more steady stream of material from these guys!

Useless Fact: The album was produced by Tim Bushong of LoveWar and The Bleed (featuring Rex Carroll) fame.

Grave Robber - "Exhumed"

Grave Robber - Exhumed
2010, Rottweiler

1. Army of the Dead
2. They Hate You
3. Altered States
4. Fill This Place With Blood
5. Lion of Judah
6. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
7. Reanimator (Demo)
8. Bloodbath (Demo)
9. I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again (Demo)
10. Screams of the Voiceless (Demo)
11. I, Zombie (Demo)

The only problem I have with Exhumed is that I got it after You're All Gonna Die!. If you have all three of the band's studio albums, you've got everything here save three new tunes ("They Hate You," "Lion of Judah," and "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"). Granted, there are some demo versions of Be Afraid material, but I don't think it's quite enough to sink the cash into the whole CD. However, if you're new to Grave Robber this is a good CD to start with as it has a good overview of what the band is about. Now I wholeheartedly recommend that you download the three exclusive tracks if you haven't done so already, but this disc is more for collectors I think. Finally, since I have the chance I'll just say this once more in case you haven't been paying attention: I LOVE Grave Robber!

Useless Fact: Exhumed is the first release on Rottweiler records. I think this was originally put out to give fans a taste of new GR to tide them over until the new album was ready.

Grave Robber - "You're All Gonna Die!"

Grave Robber - You're All Gonna Die!
2011, Rotweiller

1. Flatliners
2. You're All Gonna Die!
3. Paranormal Activity
4. Invisible Man
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes
6. Nightbreed
7. Haunted House
8. Incredible Shrinking Woman
9. Last Man on Earth
10. Fill This Place With Blood
11. Curse of the Werewolf

Sometimes I wish the Christian music market was structured more like it was when I was a kid. Grave Robber is such an awesome band. I can only imagine what they could have done with the resources of Intense Records or some other Frontline outlet. But who am I kidding? The Christian market wasn't that good! Also, there would have been no way a band like Grave Robber (with its image) could've been signed and accepted by any of those old labels. It's just that they're such a great band and I'd really love to see what they could do with a big label's money!

Ever since I got Inner Sanctum a while back, Grave Robber has been one of my favorite bands. I've also liked just about everything else they've done since then (i.e. the various songs on various comps). I even went ahead and added You're All Gonna Die! to my list of picks for 2011 having not heard it yet. I'm happy to say that Wretched and company did not let me down as their newest effort totally smokes. The sound continues in the vein of the previous album - mixing punk and metal. Rarely have I heard a band who melds their influences with such finesse as Grave Robber. "Fill This Place With Blood" is probably the best example. It has a cool metal riff but has plenty of punk attitude as well. But there's so many awesome songs here. The title track, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," "Nightbreed," "Haunted House," "Curse of the Werewolf." This disc puts me in an instant good mood - just like the last one.

If there's one thing odd about this release, it's that "Incredible Shrinking Woman" is actually a live track with an extended introduction by Wretched. I'm not sure why but it's kind of weird to have it right smack dab in the middle of a new studio album.

In any event, You're All Gonna Die is definitely a step up from Inner Sanctum and proves that the band still has plenty of passion and, hopefully, they'll be around for a long time.

Useless Fact: The band had multiple problems getting this CD released. Not the least of which was a snafu with one of the movie samples. It wasn't public domain like they thought it was. Procuring the rights would have cost them an ungodly sum of money, so they just took the sample out. It delayed the manufacturing of the CD for quite a while!

Grave Robber - "Be Afraid"

Grave Robber - Be Afraid

2008, Retroactive

1. The Exorcist

2. Skeletons

3. Burn, Witch, Burn

4. Bloodbath

5. Rigor Mortis

6. Buried Alive

7. Screams of the Voiceless

8. Golgotha

9. Reanimator

10. Schizofiend

11. Dark Angel

12. I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again

13. I, Zombie

14. Army of the Dead

15. Rigor Mortis (Team Cybergiest Remix)

Grave Robber's sophomore album, Inner Sanctum, has been getting more and more playtime on my ipod lately. So naturally I wanted to check out the band's debut. Be Afraid is exactly what I was expecting it to be - fast, raw punk rock that's fun to listen to and makes you feel good inside. This disc is a little more on the punk side of the spectrum than Sanctum but the hooks are still there. I think this one has more horror imagery as well. "I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again" is a 50's doo-wopish song that was obviously the precursor to "Tell Tale Heart" on Sanctum. I hope this becomes a little Grave Robber tradition because I love those songs! "Army of the Dead" includes a bit more of the metal chugging that would also be on the band's next album. While I can't say this one is as good as Sanctum, that's okay. It was their first album which means they showed improvement. Oh... and it's still loads of fun to listen to .... "WHOA OH OH!"

Useless Fact: My old college buddy Chuck Thomas has some writing credits on here. I wonder if he played on this one any? My version of this album comes with a remix of "Rigor Mortis" which is okay but I've never been able to sit through it all the way if that tells you anything.

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.