Near the end of August, the Australian deathcore band, To The Grave, also known as TTG, released their newest full-length album, “Everyone’s A Murderer.” The band is popular for their tracks around the theme of activism, the band advocates for animal rights in “Everyone’s A Murderer.” Dane Evans, the vocalist and lyricist, explains, “My aim was to speak through the faceless activists that fight for animals, for those living in dystopia feeling alone and helpless in a world that will fight tooth and nail to defend the animal holocaust.”
From all angles, this album is excellent. Starting with the cover art, the overwhelming artistic rendition of children brutally consuming dead animals represents the realistic horrors and atrocities that humans have done to animals. Using such contrasts of kids (who are supposed to be innocent) and their killings, the art elicits soul-hitting notes. The album cover could be rather disturbing to (some) viewers, but it was intended to be so that they could face the hidden truth of the situation.
Then, moving on to the actual tracks: The production quality of the tracks is rather impressive, with each one exhibiting its own uniqueness, all while sharing common deathcore elements such as fast drums and growling. The track “Terrormilitary” features growling that sounds like animals’ dying screeches. Other tracks, including “A Body For A Body,” “Eight Four One Six,” and “Dead Wrong” feature collaborations with other artists adding vocal features and lighter guitar music, to diversify the overall sound of the album. The lyrics, although a bit incomprehensible on the first listen, were also a great addition to the overall theme of the album. Each track takes a different approach to discussing the cruelty toward animals, using vulgarity to express hatred and resentment, and blasts through the speakers to make the point.
Overall, since its release, this album has received much positive feedback on the Internet, which I agree with. It is very different-sounding compared to previous releases of the band, and it appeals to more classic elements of deathcore, including lower-tuned riffs and slower speed of breakdowns. On my initial listen to the album — and of this band — I was rather amazed by the quality of the music. The tracks also flowed smoothly instead of having jarring spaces between each one, leaving me indulged throughout the entirety of the album. I liked the band even more after digging further into the profoundness behind the album. TTG presented their values to the listeners using this form of activism with music, and that’s what makes them so special — fighting the fight with art, not just on the album cover but within each track.
At the end of Dane’s description for the album, he said that they “probably had the most fun making this record than [they’ve] ever had and it felt liberating to be able to make something that [they] liked.” If you’re also a fan of deathcore or metal, give it a try: Then you’ll love this album as much as TTG themselves.
Source:
https://uniqueleaderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/everyones-a-murderer-2
