Review: Gruesome – Silent Echoes

May 15, 2025

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I’ve been writing reviews for metal music for half a decade at this point, both recreationally and in a more official capacity; something I’ve been railing against for almost the same period of time is the wave or trend of old school death metal revivalists, and it’s virtually a crutch of mine whenever I listen to basically any new death metal of the past half-decade or so.

This bears the question: why would I subject myself to the poster band of OSDM revivalism? And before I answer that, and for those not in the know, Gruesome is a death metal band from California and Florida that’ve gotten a, shall we say, mixed reputation? It’s no secret that this band is overtly inspired by Death, the seminal death metal band, also from Florida, to the point where some people derisively refer to them as the “Greta Van Fleet of Death Metal.” To the band’s credit, they themselves admit how much they love the work of Chuck Schuldiner, their bio on Instagram even reads “DEATH-deifying Death Metal,” so the cards are fully shown.

Nevertheless, Gruesome has powered through all the guffawing, hullabaloo and memes to become a fairly dedicated live act in their own right, and after a substantial time gap they’ve decided to release their newest album. Keeping with their reverence of Death, this new album titled Silent Echoes sees the band now journeying into the proggier side of the band—particularly the album Human—which they’ve dedicated to Schuldiner and the late Sean Reinert of Cynic fame, and who was also Death’s drummer for the aforementioned Human record.

Right out of the gate and to no one’s surprise, the biggest issue with this record is just how derivative it is of Death. I went in expecting it, as the band themselves proudly admit it in their promo for the album, so it’s not like there aren’t warnings. If you’re not into Death, or held that band in such a high regard that a worship band writing and producing music in that style feels like blasphemy, then this record is most definitely not for you. And one thing I will add is that this record isn’t something I’d recommend to newbies either, because the sound and style is so specific, and with all the obvious and even subtle elements of Death’s tech-death era, this record—and band as a whole—occupies a very niche space where they’re primarily playing for themselves, Death superfans who’re more open to a band continuing that legacy, and genre connoisseurs.

However, while all that might be a deterrent for a lot of people, and because I was already fully aware of this band’s zealous reverence, there are a lot of good things here to appreciate. The most obvious is the individual members’ skills and playing. Suffice to say, if you’re going to play Death circa Human and Individual Thought Patterns, you better know how to write and perform heavy-hitting riffs and soaring leads, and Gruesome takes pride in it. The guitar work of Dan Gonzales and Matt Harvey captures that unique balance of complex brutality and ornate melodicism that Chuck Schuldiner was a master of. Furthermore, Gus Ríos’ drumming is as equally impressive as it is hard-hitting, and it’s not surprising Ríos is also playing actual Death songs with the tribute bands Left to Die and Living Monstrosity alongside Harvey, which, if anything, is an endorsement by the living, former members of Death. The bass work is also handled by Gonzales and that’s where I was personally most impressed, as a bassist myself, and a fan of Steve DiGiorgio, I was expecting the bass to be at that level, and it was.

The biggest highlight and my favorite track is the instrumental piece, “Voice within the Void (Astral Oceans);” this track is one of the band’s best, not only on a musical and technical level, but it’s also where the band truly sound like themselves, as in, this is the track where they aren’t revering Death. A guest guitar solo by none other than Paul Masvidal—which is another blessing/endorsement—does not take away from Gruesome actually having the chops to do more beyond being a proud worship band, and throughout the album I did catch glimpses of brilliance that. If the band wanted to pursue their own sound, it could lead them to become a unique entity, but at the end of the day that’s their decision to make on their terms.

Overall, while I enjoyed this record in some areas, I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me roll my eyes in others. And because I still also have my gripes with OSDM, I can’t say I was fully convinced by Gruesome. I can definitely respect their passion and praise their musical chops, but beyond that, this is a record that’s best enjoyed in small doses. Next time I’m spinning Death and feel the need to want more, I at least have the perfect band to scratch that specific itch when I’m the right mood.