Description

In-Graved is the new band led by former Pentagram and Place of Skulls guitarist Victor Griffin. The debut self-tilted album was produced by Travis Wyrick (Place of Skulls) and founding guitarist/vocalist Victor Griffin (Death Row, Pentagram, Place of Skulls). The album was recorded at Lakeside Studios in Knoxville,Tennessee and engineered by Travis Wyrick and Mike Dearing (Place of Skulls) with cover art by Richard Schouten (Place of Skulls, Massacre). While closing the books on Pentagram and Place of Skulls in 2012, Victor Griffin invited drummer Pete Campbell to join him in the studio to record a new album. With no name, no members, and a batch of unfinished material… they cranked out 8 tracks in just under a week and Pete went home. But much was left unfinished. An invitation was then extended to some of the best bass players around with Guy Pinhas, Ron Holzner, Greg Turley, Marty Swaney, and Dan Lively accepting. Meanwhile, keyboardist Mike Puleo was making his contribution. Then with great enthusiasm… the timing was right for Jeff “Oly” Olson to join and bring the Hammond organ alive on the rest of the album! This debut album has a very relaxed tone. Granted, the significant blues vibe in the likes of “Fading Flower”, “Teacher” (a Jethro Tull cover) and “Love Song For The Dying” dilute the ‘doom’ edge while the up-tempo closing track “Never Surrender” could have come from the guitar of Bruce Springsteen but with that fabled tone he has always generated through the Pentagram days at the heart of this offering a doom rock record we can get away with calling it. The eight songs on offer as a result provide only a gentle examination of Griffin’s ability to pen slow-mid tempo tracks that are likely to appeal to just the most blue-collared of old-school doom fans. At times within “Digital Critic” and “Late For An Early Grave” Griffin and his cohorts in the making of this album pulsate with quality riffs that bear the hallmark of many of his classics from the Pentagram days but find their impact restricted by the cushioned production which removes the sharpest of angles from the delivery. And unlike Place of Skulls, whose “The Black Is Never Far” is a more solid album all-round, the naming of this project after the man has appeared to reduce the input from fellow bassist and drummer to the feel of session musician such is their reticence to step into the limelight. Save for muted organ work here and there this is very much the Victor Griffin show: all riffs, solos and vocals to leave the end result very much reliant on one’s appreciation of him.

Track listing:
1. Digital Critic
2. What If
3. Late For An Early Grave
4. Fading Flower
5. Thorn In The Flesh
6. Teacher-Jethro Tull cover
7. Love Song For The Dying
8. Never Surrender