Pissgrave

Heavy, raw, depraved, excessively violent, and aggressively inaccessible: these adjectives describe the sound and intention of Philadelphia's Pissgrave, one of the more outrageous acts to emerge from the barebones ethos of old-school death metal with a war metal production aesthetic. With their self-titled cassette demo in 2014 (which sold out immediately), the band captivated extreme music enthusiasts and critics with their consciously lo-fi, Deicide-influenced riffing approach. 2016's Suicide Euphoria on Profound Lore drew almost as much attention for its disgusting cover art as its approach to brutality in music. Pissgrave was formed in Philadelphia in late 2013 by a quartet of veterans from other acts. Drummer Matt Mellon was a former member of Jail, and a live member of Abhomine and the Body. His guitarist /vocalist brother Tim Mellon also played in Oak and was a former member of the live incarnation of Abhomine. Guitarist/vocalist Demian Fenton was also playing in Serpent Throne and was an ex-member of Otesanek. Founding bassist John Guarracino remains a core member of Hæthen but previously played with Opus Dei. (He left Pissgrave in 2017 and was replaced by Brad D.) After a period of writing and rehearsals, the quartet delivered a homemade, self-titled demo to the metal press, which embraced its extremely primitive production, driving riffs, and the sheer extremity of the band's attack. The tape sold out within weeks. Pissgrave were contacted by Canada's Profound Lore (a label renowned for its extreme bands), which signed them and issued their Arthur Rizk-produced full-length debut Suicide Euphoria during the late summer of 2015. Its distasteful album cover art depicted explicit images of human decay and putrefaction. The metal press spent almost as many column inches commenting on the cover as the music -- which they celebrated. Pissgrave's live shows only underscored the malevolent intensity of their recorded music. After touring the U.S. and Canada for the better part of two years, Guarracino left to concentrate on Hæthen. Fenton suggested Brad D., a bandmate of his in Otesanek. The bassist joined the band while on tour. Pissgrave re-entered the studio in late 2018 with Rizk as producer, recording and mastering engineer. They delivered the slightly more polished but still primitive Posthumous Humiliation, whose album cover was even more disturbing than its predecessor's.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo