Orfeo - 1990
6.5/10
Zooming into the smaller, often overlooked country of Uruguay, you'll meet the grueling and ghastly Graf Spee. Named after a German warship that sunk off their coast at the turn of 1939, the Montevideo group took formation right in the midst of the nation's "civic" military dictatorship under Aparicio Mendez, starting with a taste of traditional metal. But as years went on, the political climate changed, as did the band's style, and when they released Reincarnation in 1990, they'd take on a much harsher identity reminiscent of the totalitarian days of (not so) yore. Thus, the band's once-and-done full length is as grating and discomforting as you may be able to imagine.
Stylistically, one might struggle to pin this down, as the greater extreme metal tag seems most fitting for how raw and repugnant Graf Spee's delivery is. In terms of riffs, you've got a lot of death metal influence that comes with that thrashy attitude, at least when the atmosphere allows it to be picked up. The crunchy guitar tone often fights with the bass, both blending into the unforgiving forefront that soaks the listener in an ocean of ash. Mostly, the lead guitars are what stick out, piercing the listener with a screeching bite that's extremely tough to swallow at times, seen in the several phases of the instrumental tune known as "Perfidy." If that's not enough, the vocals also appear all over the place, ranging from deep yet blackened growls aiming for a guttural-adjacent sound to higher, crossover-esque shrieks.
Though one knows what to expect when going into a release like this, Reincarnation isn't the most pleasant experience, and if it weren't for its short runtime, this could have been overbearing. But, I also can't deny the appeal of being submerged into such a proverbial pile of rusty nails. Nuances like bass crawl in "Kali-Yuga" and its lower growls contrasting the higher outbursts are a fun observation. This may be a stretch, but I also felt like I could see the traditional metal starting point peak its head in "Eunuch." If you can peel away the rusted and unfinished outer coats, I think the gallops under the crushing weight heavily reflect the NWOBHM sound that was far later to arrive to the region. Same could also be said about the softer (and I use that word very liberally) delivery that coats the start of "Self Destruction." If nothing else, the crawling bass/lead combos in that are neat.
I can't say that Graf Spee is a band I see myself returning to often. This execution of extreme metal is all sorts of fun to dive into for a glimpse at what was being crafted at the time and place, but even by those standards this has little replay value. I'd encourage fans of the inaccessible atmosphere with intricate styles to lend this their ear. If you can't walk away with much, at least try and spot the nuances buried deep within.
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