Review: “Purified in Blood” by Gravery

Formed at the start of the barren winter of discontent that was November 2023 in Northern Italy, Downtempo Deathcore crew Gravery immediately started to write no compromise tracks addressing uncomfortable topics such as the analysis of the destructive potential of the human mind. They announced themselves to an unsuspecting world just one month later with first single “Hate Is Now The Answer” and haven’t looked back since, offering up heavy hitting tracks with alarming regularity. After 2024’s critically acclaimed debut EP “Everything That Is Born Must Die”, the death march continues “Purified in Blood”, a sophomore EP recorded, mixed and mastered at Audiocore Studio (Browbeat, Crowndead, The Modern Age Slavery) in Fontevivo, Parma, Italy…

The whispers of “Nobody, I’m nobody” at the start of the darkly atmospheric “Icon of Sin” give chills before the spine juddering riffs begin to cut like jigsaw blades, the band immediately living up to their monstrous reputation. Vocalist Luca “Pigo” De Simone has incredible range, from death growls and guttural lows to shriller moments and those which circle the drain of Slam, he’s got it all but its the whispers that give the track a real malevolent sense of evil. Beatdown riff passages are intertwined with more involved Deathcore riffs so you get the best of both worlds, that catchy gut punch stomp offset by something a little sharper.

Title track “Purified in Blood” continues the narrative of evil with an occult ritual vibe, Luca Cocconi’s barbed riffs elevated by an almost ethereal moment as De Simone talks about plucking out eyes. Then comes the flood of two step riffs and pummelling mid tempo percussion, a call to snap your neck in the pit that is undeniable. A sampled conversation about a dude who kills women with a hammer for the sense of power because he’s bored is a surreal moment that sets the tone perfectly for the skull crushing “Fragments of Life”, the rumbling bass from Francesco Marenghi as crucial a component as the others. Pure unadulterated psychological evil, this is the perfect soundtrack to a hammer horror movie as bludgeoning rhythms collide with haunting sounds of impressive style and weighty substance.

“An Ode to Death” brings the churn and burn, throwing fuel on the already well lit fire and turning it into a towering inferno of colossal neck snapping riffs. There is an intelligence in the narrative that you might not expect, research into themes for each song resulting in clever use of samples. This one has “We are all evil in some form or another, are we not?“, a quote from serial killer Richard Ramirez, also know as the “Night Stalker“, that sends a shiver down the spine, not to mention some serious haunting background sounds that feel like they’re from The Shinning. If this one doesn’t receive the critical acclaim the bands first record did then there is something wrong with the World [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Icon of Sin
2. Purified in Blood
3. Fragments of Life
4. An Ode to Death

“Purified in Blood” by Gravery is out 15th May 2026 via Upstate Records in partnership with Blood Blast Distribution