One of the longest-running Swedish death metal bands, GRAVE has created a sound and style which has been an inspiration on a number
of the genre's more promising younger outfits. Started as the band Corpse in 1986, they have released lots of demos; before the group's legendary 1991 debut, Into the Grave, established GRAVE as one of death metal's most brutal new hopefuls, a title the act cemented through a host of live performances across Europe and America. 1992's
You'll Never See...,the band's critically-acclaimed second release, showcased their growing musical talent with a cleaner, stronger sound appealing to a wider audience while retaining the group's trademark heaviness. Unfortunately, that effort would also mark the first album recording without bassist Jonas, who'd left GRAVE several months earlier as a result of his increasing dislike for the touring lifestyle.
After unsuccessfully trying to fill the slot, the group made a collective decision to revert to their original three-man line-up, with guitarist Jorgen Sandstrom switching to bass. In late 1993, GRAVE issued
...And Here I Die...Satisfied, a limited edition EP featuring brand new, rare and remixed tracks encompassing the band's entire recording history. Designed to mark the end of an era for the outfit, the EP set the stage for the release of the trio's long-awaited third full-length offering, Soulless, which was recorded during the early part of 1994
at Stockholm's Sunlight Studios (as were all of the group's previous outings) with producer Tomas Skogsberg. Featuring a more mature and musical direction than was the case with GRAVE's past efforts, Soulless pleased theband's longtime followers while expanding the group's appeal to non-die hard death metal audiences, a point the trio attributed to their "growth as musicians. In 1996, GRAVE ventured back with another attack of their relentlessly brutal, yet catchy material in the shape of Hating Life Produced, once again, by Skogsberg at his Sunlight facility, the album marked the vocal debut of guitarist Ola Lindgren, who took over the singing department following the departure of Sandstrom. Proving that they haven't softened their stance a bit or compromised their focus on writing songs that hit hard and leave a lasting impression, Hating Life will surely please anyone into music that's equally treacherous and tuneful. Grave toured both the States and in Europe to support this album. After the last tour the band had a loooooong break until 1999 when they decided to play together again. Rehearsals went pretty slow at first but after a while they got old bassplayer Jonas Torndal back in the band, this time to grab the second guitar. The bassjob went to an old friend of the band - Freddan Isaksson who´ve played with numerous Stockholm based bands, the most known to you would be Therion. The band is currently working on new material and played their first live gig in 5 years at the HardRock cafe´Stockholm September 14:th.
To be continued................
[The band was originally formed in Visby on the isle of Gotland but they later on moved to Stockholm since there were not many metal fans in Visby.]
GRAVE
