Death is a massive topic of interest in extreme music. Whether it be its inevitability, a fantastical how-to guide, assumptions about what lies beyond or band names. However, when a tragedy befalls the death-obsessed, it’s still a fucking tragedy.
Two years ago, Early Graves frontman, Makh Daniels, died in a van crash while the band was touring, sharing a van with The Funeral Pyre. Drafting in former Funeral Pyre vocalist John Strachan – an incredible display of uneasy camaraderie – Early Graves could be given a mulligan had Red Horse been of inferior quality.
However, the only noticeable differences are the raspier quality of John’s voice, and the how the rickety, unhinged feel isn’t as all-encompassing as before. That’s not to say that the Converge-on-the-edge-of-collapse style has been spit-shined or smoothed-out, but the calamity of Skinwalker and Misery are tempered by Days Grow Cold and Quietus, which have more layers, conventional structure and tightness to them. Makh would undoubtedly have been proud.
