Hot Graves

Hot Graves have made impressive use of the heat they've garnered over their short existence. The band's EP, Desecration Time, was a mere sampling of foulness, leaving their crust-loving followers hungry for a full-length. Mere months later, the Florida trio have exceeded expectations with Knights in White Phosphorous, a death/thrash/hardcore hybrid that pays homage to many but owes allegiance to none. The band's breakneck pace and continued use of the almighty D-beat are set against a vast array of detours into other areas of brutality and wickedness, such as "Dirthrash" and "Worship the Goat," which employ guitar harmonies worthy of classic Priest, or "Dirge Ov the Apokalyptik Hordes Ov the Toxik Damned," which plays up the impending doom of Celtic Frost. Combined with a Sodom-like vocal delivery on tracks like "Total War," Knights delivers modern anthems straight from the depths of death/thrash's condemned cellar, with all the fun and the best kind of destructiveness an extreme metal band could hope to unleash.