Review by Felix on June 18, 2025.

Death metal sounds only occasionally roar through my living room, but when it does, it's often Dutch bands. Asphyx, Thanatos and Graceless are formations that are able to make my day and so I am happy that the latter have released their fourth album called "Icons Of Ruin". I really like the quartet because of their down-to-earth, credible demeanour, and some real hits made it even easier for me to sympathise with the guys. Therefore I hate to say that the new full-length does not fully meet my expectations. The band seems to be infected by a malignant doom metal virus which results in some sluggish, almost phlegmatic tracks. This phenomenon could also be observed on Asphyx's last disc. This new plague seems to be even nastier than the corona virus, which hasn't been around for a while now.

But let's start with the opener and put the spot light on the positive aspects of this release – there are a lot of them. The first two tracks kick off the album in a pretty thunderous way. No signs of lethargy so far! "Lash Me To My Painful Death" marks the first excursion into the doomy regions of slowness, but its unholy undertone, the clever arrangement and the passionate conjuration of Hecate feed the song with a lot of strength. The riffing of "Night Of The Slain", a vehement mid-tempo hammer, evokes very positive associations with "Here Be Dragons", one of the best songs in the four-piece's back catalogue. Despite the fact that it presents an almost tragically sounding break and a melodic solo, the song does not suffer from a lack of vitality or brutality.

"Hardening Of The Heart" – here we have reached the most surprising title of the album. Maybe there is already something like death pop. If not, I hereby declare Graceless to be the inventor of this style. Not because of the dreamy intro, but in view of the conservative song structure, the easily consumable guitar lines, the lyrics which are full of dark romanticism ("To a world without you I'll never return / Your voice a whisper in the howling storm…" and so on), the emotional solo and the general vibes of the song. Yes, there is also a double bass carpet, the guitars are low-tuned as always and the voice of David Kreft sounds almost as demonic as always. Nevertheless, the track presents a different atmosphere and despite its pop appeal, it is simply a fantastic number. And no, I am not freshly in love or something like that. I really enjoy this piece.

The problematic part begins after this song. The following tracks present standardized death metal sections in slow motion. Maybe with the exception of the powerless "Beneath Starless Skies", none of them is a real downer. But the overall impression they leave cannot be described as thrilling or agile. I regret that the guys haven't recorded a worthy successor for their death 'n' roll number "Giants", the opener of "Chants From Purgatory". Instead, just about manage to climb over the abyss of boredom without falling off. At least that's something. By the way, the professional, appropriately sinister production plays its part in this. Graceless know how a death metal record has to sound and they have given the material what it needs to reveal its full force.

As if to make amends for the previous crawls, "Resurrection Of The Graveless" once again strikes a livelier note and storms forwards in a straightforward and unstoppable manner. Too bad that the band did not give one or two songs more a similar pattern. They should fight their lethargy whenever it wants to take possession of them... But be that as it may, Graceless have written another good yet unfortunately not flawless work. I am sure that their creative potential more in store for them and moreover I am an optimist: the next album will show that this statement is not just a thesis, but a fact.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10