If the cover art didn’t make it clear enough, Australia’s To the Grave are back to deliver up a plate of vegan-based deathcore. While one might start to think about queuing up the Cattle Decapitation comparisons, To the Grave operate in very different territory than the aforementioned act. Everyone’s a Murderer is a (mostly) straight shot of deathcore that sits on the heavier side of things. It’s not going to necessarily change anyone’s mind on the genre, but for anyone seeking sheer brutality, breakdowns, and some caustic vocals and riffs, To the Grave have you covered.
Opening things up in the most abrasive way possible is “Set Yourself on Fire (In Public),” which storms out of the gates after a snappy intro. Dave Evans immediately goes into some primal gutturals and shouts, as the guitars hit some brutal grooves and chugs, occasionally speeding up with the drumming into more frantic zones. “DxE or Die” starts out with massive elephant stomps that you can all but hear in your chest as it opens. The bleak atmosphere of “Burn Your Local Butcher” helps to give it some individual space, whereas the follow up of “Vegan Day of Violence” feels almost militant in it’s riff and drum patterns. “Made in Aus” benefits from some catchy grooves and melodies in its assault, and “Terrormilitary” feels almost industrial at times with its soundscapes that give it some eerie and trippy feelings. All things considered, closer “Dead Wrong” feels more at home with the deathcore tenets, even with a guest appearance from Michael Kearney.
To the Grave flirt with some intriguing additions over the course of Everyone’s a Murderer and provide a step up from their previous efforts. While it seems their finest hour might still lay in front of them, this is still a frenetic piece of deathcore that serves it better than many when it comes to the pitfalls of the genre. Everyone’s a Murderer unloads brutality, extreme vocals, and breakdowns, but keeps them in check to avoid feeling cliched or stereotypical. The sprinklings of experimentation give them a slight edge that they could benefit from even further in the future.