Fans of the classic Stockholm / Sunlight Studios death metal sound have had no shortage of new music to chew on in recent years. Grave is still going quite strong, the reborn Entrails has put out three beastly albums that would have easily placed them among the greats had they actually been released in the early 90s, and moving back just a few years, the final couple Dismember albums were absolute monsters. But with all three of these bands being Swedish, and (in one way or another) belonging to the original scene, releasing stellar buzzsaw death metal is what they are supposed to do.
A fresh act from Texas fitting right in? That’s a different thing altogether. Cleric’s compact, no-nonsense debut Gratum Inferno is quite clear in its intent—to emulate classics such as Left Hand Path, Indecent and Obscene, and Into the Grave. (There is even a song titled “Left Hand Wrath,” so yeah, no delusions.) The band knows that they can’t quite match the monumental strength or magnitude of their still-strong predecessors, so they instead focus on what they can do best: honing a nearly perfect Sunlight sound (chewy like the corner brownie) and writing catchy, tight songs. The success of their homage is nearly universal over the brief sub-half-hour of Gratum Inferno.
The opening title track lays down exactly what Cleric is about: walloping death metal, a strong sense of how to shift tempos, the ability draw in a catchy melody when necessary, and a desire to just generally thump skulls. “From Womb To Tomb” features everything from a chug-and-d-beat intro and speedy blast beat passages to a drop it down doomy finish. “Into Death And Far Beyond” stomps and struts its way around some rather open, melodic passages while a straightforward-but-effective chorus glues the tune together. Each song succeeds via great riffs, solid songwriting, and the stellar drumming of Phil Coffins, while the band’s knack for keeping things interesting and that short run time ensure that the album never begins to wear out its welcome.
Granted, Gratum Inferno can’t quite match some of the things that made their Swedish heroes so magical. They don’t quite have the obscene, pornographic heft of Grave, or the sneakily hooky, melodic sensibility of Dismember. Nor do they have the kind of instantly memorable vocals of a Matti Kärki or L-G Petrov. This latter gripe is perhaps the only real issue facing Cleric, as vocalist Maim Newton has a more than adequate death growl, but can’t provide the kind of memorable performance that Stockholm-styled death typically requires. However, some fans may actually find that this approach renders Cleric a bit unique, and even to my ears it is less of a true fault than a case of what-could-have-been.
As the goofy pseudonyms would imply (the others are The Driller, Burnt Bacharach, and Maul Slimin’ …), Gratum Inferno is about pure, unadulterated death metal fun. To anyone who grew up on the real deal, or is still devouring what the vets are releasing, Cleric should provide them with just that, in addition to a surprising amount of songwriting depth. Again, they won’t ever replace the classics, but they’re laying it down as well as anyone not actually located in Scandinavia. A crushing good time, to say the least.
