Year: 2025
Label: Metal Race Records / Satanath Records
Rating: 7 / 10
Lovecraftian Death Metal is back on the pages of Bagnik Zine, but this time from an older band. I've known DIG ME NO GRAVE since their debut, and I can tell you right away that neither the band itself nor my impression of it has changed in any way over these 11 years.
Since about 2011, the Russian extreme metal scene has been experiencing qualitative growth, including in the Death Metal genre. Bands such as PYRE and GROND began releasing their first records, which demonstrated world-class standards and were light years ahead of the boring stuff a-la TRIGGER and the like. DIG ME NO GRAVE and their “Cosmic Cult" played one league lower, but they were still prominent on the Russian scene. It was enough that they had an adult European sound, decent artwork, and presented serious Lovecraftian themes and aesthetics instead of trying to make ”very interesting" statements. The latter is a huge problem for all Russian (and most of the post-Soviet) metal. Instead of making proper music, all these geniuses start shitting with metaphors, irony and clumsy humor, invent an “unusual image” and so on. Hey, no one gives a crap about your peasant theatrics!
So, what was I talking about? DIG ME NO GRAVE set a pretty high bar for themselves from the very beginning. And they stopped immediately. I even compared "Cosmic Cult" and "Necrocosmic Ceremony” while writing this review. The same sound. The same themes. The same music. Even the label is the same! Being released by Satanath, by the way, hardly benefited the band, since DIG ME NO GRAVE was immediately lost among the avalanche of his mediocre releases. PYRE immediately collaborated with Blood Harvest and Soulseller, and now they're on Osmose. But few people abroad know DIG ME NO GRAVE.
One way or another, since the very start, DIG ME NO GRAVE material had enough power to keep the band in a competitive state even in 2025. They know how to play Death Metal. I would say that they were inspired by the Finnish school, as well as the great CANNIBAL CORPSE. Because DIG ME NO GRAVE riffs are very American, some even familiar (as in “Desecrated Heavens”, for example), but the bulldozer dynamics and performance style are Finnish, or pan-European. There are few fast fragments in the songs and no thrash at all. The main part is moving at a steady average pace and, as they say, is piling on. There is also a minimal groove that does not irritate. Production quality brings pleasure. This is a modern Death Metal sound, not just another faceless blunder on standard settings. And the vocalist doesn't disappoint. In short, with ”Necrocosmic Ceremony " DIG ME NO GRAVE successfully did what they already have done more than once. Again. And this, objectively speaking, is very good. No more, no less.
The design of the physical edition is very successful, especially for a jewel case format. The cover is made by Alex Shadrin (Nether Temple Design), thematical illustrations for songs are in an amateurish, but very rich and old-school style by Amy Mor. The fonts and colors are decent. The lyrics are present. Details on a video.
