The dark, seedy underworld of New York City once again emerges as the cityscape is tainted by sewage, crack smoke and the trade of flesh. The streets, once bustling with life, permeate with the grotesque and filth-ridden chaos of yesteryear. Among these harsh realities, within the walls of the dimly lit alley ways, a stench reeks of bodily fluids and rat feces.
On the subway platforms, desperate souls engage in random acts of violence on one another over a few measly bucks. The East River runs a sickly green and the city’s hue mirrors the shadows cast by these illicit endeavors. Amid this unsettling somber reality a soundscape to capture the horror is now realized in the form of Gravesend’s second album.
The new album Gowanus Death Stomp compounds the cruelty displayed on 2021 debut Methods Of Human Disposal into an ever more gritty and primal barrage of violence. At the crossroads of criminal depravity and urban malaise, Gravesend utilize many tools of the trade. Black / death / grind / war metal all meld seamlessly into a tar pit of scathing back-alley sadism and acid-tongued vocals.
Like a newly found corpse down by the docks, the smell of decomposition is wafting out of every track on Gowanus Death Stomp. And as with NYC’s underground legends from Cro-Mags to Swans to Type O Negative, Gravesend embodies the pulse of the city, even as that pulse bleeds out on the concrete.
