Apparently this young Dallas-based act (as a matter of fact, they did exist a time ago but without anything important to add, and they did reform recently) consists of former or current members from e.g. Kill The Client, Baring Teeth and Tyrannosorceress, so you surely can imagine a specific angle of technically-oriented aggression for sure. And indeed, that’s what Cleric stand for. The band did record this debut full length studio album with Garry Brents, known from e.g. Noisear, Phobia or Kill The Client, and the whole lasts for about thirty minutes. And since the band decided to release this material on vinyl only, they decided to join Tofu Carnage’s roster (also from Dallas), known for vinyl releases by bands like Akkolyte, Unconscious Collective, Ecocide or, last but not least, Dead To A Dying World.
Gratum Inferno brings relentless, visceral, merciless and eerie Old Skool Death Terror with, believe it or not, a sound that reminds me enormously to the Swedish early nineties-era (the Sunlight-sound), mixed, of course, with an atmosphere courtesy of the North American scene. The tempo varies from pounding and sludging to fierce and fiery, and everything in between. That’s a strength in this band’s case, for it makes the non-original, even predictable songs satisfyingly interesting to listen at carefully. The evident injection of everything that refers to the earliest nineties (and late eighties) has been accentuated without exaggeration or superficiality, which is another surplus. And the production is so fat and greasy; it makes me craving for blood-red meat (no tofu, please)…
Consider it a mixture of Dismember and Deicide, flavoured by a hint of Bolt Thrower, coloured by some gore shades of Autopsy, and penetrated with the semen of Nihilist, and enjoy Gratum Inferno!