Band:	Goregäng
Album:	Neon Graves
Style:	Crust Punk, Death metal
Release date:	May 2019

01. A Cavity In Reality
02. False Flags
03. Cathedral Of Chemicals
04. Silence Is Consent
05. Spray Of Teeth
06. Feeble-Minded Rash
07. Neon Graves
08. Plague Of Hammers
09. Goregӓng
10. Weightless Sentinels
11. Putrid Judgement
12. This Era Of Human

Goregäng is a duo of audio engineers, Jeramie Kling and Taylor Nordberg, whose CVs include participation in bands like The Absence, Ribspreader, Wombbath, Infernaeon, Venom Inc. and Soilwork. But enough with the bio; Goregäng are here to put a smile on your face and exercise your neck muscles.

Neon Graves is the debut full-length of these crusty death metallers and features the unmistakable buzzsaw assault that is the trademark characteristic of Swedish death metal, enhanced with a few doomy and some more thrashy riffs, and an overall punkish attitude. The latter is very much accentuated, not only by the d-beat madness that pervades the entire album but also by the sporadic gang shouts that transform the songs into an infinitely fun and pumped up affair. Goregäng often change the tempo and the style within the same track in a way that putrid brutality, quick-fired onslaught and chugging groove are blended into a very headbangable death metal juggernaut.

The sound is fantastic and does justice to the throbbing rhythm section and the guitar tone is colossal. The amount of catchy riffs is absurd and Neon Graves feels like a very guitar-driven record, even though there is a complete lack of solos. The vocals need to be praised as well, with the growls being more aggressive when the band goes all-in with speed and roughness, and more cavernous and cords-stretching when things get slower and crushing.

Goregäng have squeezed twelve tracks in just under 35 minutes of runtime, which makes for a direct and succinct record but at the same time I got the impression that some songs end in a somewhat abrupt way or feel slightly underdeveloped. This is my only nitpick though, because the album as a whole is extremely infectious and its uncomplicated character makes for a very pleasurable listen.

If for some bizarre reason you have never heard of death metal before, Neon Graves is the ideal starting point to get you completely hooked on the style.

"We are - the most foul
We are Goregäng
Putrid - contaminated
We are Goregäng"