Death Unhallowed

Grave are one of the oldest Swedish death metal bands, with their origins going back as far as 1984 when they operated under several different names, before settling on Grave in 1988. They were inactive in the late 90's but returned in the early 2000's and have still managed to put out 10 albums. This boxed set covers their whole career from the pre-Grave demos up to the 2006 studio album "As Rapture Comes" as well as the subsequent live CD/DVD from his era.Notably absent from this collection are the 2 studio albums recorded between the aforementioned album and this boxed set. The reason for this is that the box covers the years the band were signed to Century Media, the other albums were released on another label. It's a shame they aren't here but never mind. We're still left with a neatly repackaged back catalogue in card sleeves and a detailed booklet.

I've reviewed several boxed sets before and I don't see much point in detailing each individual album, this website has reviews of those albums for that purpose. This review is focused entirely on what this set contains and if it is worth getting.

In terms of notoriety, Grave probably sit in the second tier of death metal. Not the most famous band, but very influential and important to the development of the genre both in Swedish scene and worldwide. They've released 10 albums of mostly excellent old school death metal and this boxed set covers the early demo days, EPs, live albums, a live DVD and of course 7 studio albums. This covers the time period 1986-2006 and has basically all of Grave's releases from that time period. Personally I wouldn't put Grave down as one of my absolute favourite bands but they are one of the most consistent bands of this style and this box is an excellent compendium of their work.

The only album that isn't particularly good is "Hating Life" which has a different style and it doesn't work. It's quite hard to find this album now so it's nice to have it in this collection even if it isn't very good. Fortunately the band reverted back to their more familiar style when they reformed and the rest of these albums are mostly excellent. Grave don't alter their sound much but when it is as good as this they don't need to change their formula. Even numerous lineup changes haven't hurt the band, with Ola Lindgren steering the ship from the beginning. The only significant change is Ola taking over vocal duties, which he did very well in my opinion. He's a consistent songwriter and it shows with these albums.

This box is limited to 2000 copies and I got mine at a good price and I didn't have all the albums, so I see this as a worthwhile purchase. The actual contents of this box are the 7 studio albums from the legendary debut "Into the Grave" up to "As Rapture Comes", the live CD and DVD of "Enraptured", 2 demo compilation discs, an EP and another live album. The quality of the studio albums varies and is entirely personal taste, but as I said earlier "Hating Life" is the only studio album I don't like. The first live disc "Extremely Rotten Live" isn't exactly brilliant either but it's good to include everything in a back catalogue compilation regardless of quality. The live DVD is excellent with a large amount of extra features. Finally, the booklet gives us a brief insight into each release by Ola Lindgren, all of the song lyrics, recording details, lineups and photos, so it is a superb addition to the set. There's also a certificate of ownership included in the box.

One thing I like about this set in particular is that the albums aren't overloaded with pointless bonus tracks. The albums are in their original form and the demo tracks are released on separate discs, as are the live albums. Sinister have a similar boxed set and their live album has been dissected and put as bonus tracks on each album instead of a separate album, so top marks to Century Media here for not butchering certain releases. The only complaint I'd have in this respect is the "...And Here I Die" EP which only has 3 tracks (2 of which are on the subsequent studio album and the other is a re-recorded demo song) yet gets a separate disc. I know I moan about bonus tracks but in this case i think I can make an exception, only a minor fault though.

As for the demo compilations: Initially they were of no real interest to me. Death metal demo albums, particularly from the low budget 1980's, usually sound like utter shit (not in a good black metal kind of way.) I generally don't care for demo releases either in this format or as bonus tracks, but the quality of these is surprisingly good. Maybe it's because Grave have always had quite a dirty, raw sound. This isn't like a cheap demo followed by a shiny studio album, it's Swedish death metal played properly and as such I'd probably listen to these demo albums again which is unusual for me. Nice to have them included in this box and unlike other demo compilations the track lists aren't repetitive.

One other minor issue I have is the packaging. The albums are all in cardboard slipcases in a sturdy box. No booklets for individual albums, instead we get a massive book for the whole set. However, I would've preferred a slightly bigger box with the albums in digipaks, much like the Sinister boxed set. The actual box looks amazing, but unfortunately it is slightly too tight. The CDs, book, certificate etc all fit in nicely but the top half of the box is too tight and as such it has scuffed the bottom half. Only visible when the box is open but annoying nonetheless. I wish record labels would put practicality over presentation with sets like this.

The big question is it worth buying? Who are the record label trying to sell this to? A fan of the band will usually own all or most of the albums, but someone new to the band or even the genre might be more apprehensive about buying such a large collection of unfamiliar music. I owned several of the albums here but some were hard to find and as I found this box at a very reasonable price I was happy to buy this and sell the albums I already had. I like good boxed sets and although the packaging could be better, the contents of this box made it a mandatory purchase. I'd recommend this to fans of the band who don't own certain albums, particularly those who maybe gave up on the band after the fourth album and split. The later material stands up to the earlier albums and this boxset is a fantastic collection of proper old school death metal.

One of the best things about this release is the amazing amount of content you get for its price tag! I bought this from Nuclear Blast for €50! At the time, I didn’t own any Grave album (shame on me), but this boxed set introduced me to a death metal Sweden (and the whole death metal scene) can be proud of!

‘Death Unhallowed’ is a boxed set which includes 12 CD’s, 1 DVD and a 68 page booklet. The first two CD’s contain demo material and unreleased material. Details on this can be found in the ‘additional notes’ tab. Aside from the very first material this band produced (as ‘Corpse’, ‘Putrefaction’ and ‘Grave’) over a period of 5 years, this boxed set features 15 years of Grave brutality: 7 studio albums, 2 live albums and 1 EP. One of those two live albums, ‘Enraptured’, is also included as a DVD. The booklet features the lyrics of all albums, pictures of the band throughout their career and special notes. Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Ola Lindgren also sums up his favorite tracks from all albums! The box itself consists out of two parts which slide over each other. The surface around the band logo has a sandy finish all over.

I can recommend this boxed set to everyone who hasn’t bought anything from Grave and wishes to strike the best deal out there. The biggest pro for this item is the demo/unreleased material (hard to find). Also, knowing Ola’s favorite track from an album kind of makes you listen to it and the album as a whole in a different way. The con, however personal, is the fact that the discs are not in regular cases but in single cases (to fit the box). Some people care, others don’t, but eventually you get what you pay for.