Mostly Yelling #8: Grave Titan's Death Metal Momentum Reigns "In Perpetuum"

Grave Titan caught my ear with their grimy 2019 demo and then left me hanging for two years. I kept hoping the band would surface on a label somewhere, and fortunately they did on Life After Death with their new 7″ In Perpetuum due out this June. All we’ve heard thus far is the 90-ish second new track “The Rat is Real,” whose brief runtime includes everything from bludgeoning sludge to outright grind. Between their inherent talents and the ever-growing popularity of modern death metal, I’d wager Grave Titan is going to get more popular as time marches on.

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Alex of Grave Titan said In Perpetuum was heavily inspired by bands like Dead in the Dirt, Entombed, Fuming Mouth, and Gatecreeper. He added that the band properly took advantage of pandemic downtime to write In Perpetuum.

“We started working on In Perpetuum spring 2020, right around when the pandemic started. With no shows going on and any plans of touring that summer dashed, we decided there would be no better time to start working on our next release. We really took advantage of the pandemic, and it helped to have no rush on writing and recording. It took a while, but we are very very happy with the final product.”

Touching on the length of “The Rat is Real”, Alex said it was completely intentional to run that short on time rather than wear out the song’s welcome over a few minutes.

“It’s really easy for metal bands to run out of steam on a song very quickly, so we typically take a ‘less is more’ approach with a bulk of our music. If it’s gonna be longer than a couple of minutes, it needs to have a purpose. We have one song on In Perpetuum that just barely hits the 3 minute mark.”

Lyrically, In Perpetuum revolves around dread, depression, and general frustration. Alex said the focus on mental struggles and self-reflection comes from a personal place that he himself has been dealing with.

“‘In Perpetuum’ is basically saying something is perpetual, or forever, and focuses on how days can sometimes feel like a ritual sacrifice of the few parts of you that are still intact,” he said. “‘The Rat is Real’ had a lot to do with stagnation and how it can feel to not make progress in your life, and not knowing whether you’re awake or asleep some days. ‘Lord of Hunger’ ends the record by saying it doesn’t really matter if you’re awake or not, because you’re going to keep walking, keep bleeding, and continue to be haunted by a grim reality.”

“These 3 songs represent a cycle of being beaten down, trying to find some catharsis, and then waking up to sacrifice yourself all over again.”

As long as things are safe, Alex said Grave Titan fully intends to tour on both their 2019 demo and In Perpetuum. He said the band has continued to write new material despite In Perpetuum not being released yet, and hopes a few more songs will be available by the end of the year.

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You can grab a copy of In Perpetuum here via Bandcamp before its June 6 release date.