Grave Siesta Weave Yarn of Warfare and Survival in ‘Voidward Spin’
~By Billy Goate~
Art by Sami Lintunen
There are many euphemisms for death: departing, passing away, resting in peace, kicking the bucket, meeting your end, giving up the ghost, and the not-so-delicate taking a dirt nap. A band in Finland has another way of thinking about death, and it is embodied in their name: GRAVE SIESTA.
That wicked shriek you heard off in the distance? It's doom-struck heavy metal from the tombs of Finland. The rotting corpses of the dearly beloved have arisen with a fifth of whiskey in hand and they're having a royal ruckus in the cemetery. Wanna join in? Grave Siesta bids us welcome with their third album, 'Voidward Spin' (2019), following the well-received 'Piss & Vinegar' (2015) and the excellent debut, 'Grave Siesta' (2011).
Voidward Spin by Grave Siesta
"Vacant Throne" plunges us right into the melee with an arpeggiated riff that falls like lightning from the sky, accompanied by the gnarly vox of Taito Halonen. The lyrics, while at times obscure, are clear enough about one thing: we're at war this time 'round.
Ad libitum regina inferorum absolutum dominium para bellum libidine ardens
Curiously, there is one place and only one place in the album when the lyrics revert from English to this ancient tongue. It's been a long time since I studied Latin (I mean a loooong time), but I'm pretty sure it says something about a bloodthirsty Hell Queen out for absolute dominion of the "lower world," summoning her minions for a brutal battle.
Repeating droughts and locust swarms monarchies toppled one by one defaced rulers stripped from grace someone else to take your place
The song titles also clue us into the fact that the new album is all about the struggle that comes before victory, not the celebration itself. From "Intolerance" and "Weakness," we move on to "Warfare & Pestilence." It's a hellscape unfolding before us, that's for sure. A violent, medieval nightmare of lust, betrayal, and carnage -- total war -- and Grave Siesta are the ideal bards to tell the story.
The flow of the songs act as chapters unfolding the drama. There are "Seizures In A Castle," for example, and a healer who leads the oppressed in a "Depopulation Prayer."
Blessed be the unspawned cease the lineages here barren daughters castrated sons
The harrowing saga ends with "Post World Peace," where we greet "the break of morning, the yawning craters, a continuous voidward spin." There are hints here and throughout the album that perhaps what we've witnessed is not simply a tale of times past, but a caution of things to come. In the words of Saint Vitus, "War Is Our Destiny."
The Great Grave Siesta Giveaway!
Grave Siesta is giving away free Bandcamp download codes for the new album, 'Voidward Spin' (2019). Get yours (first come, first served) and redeem it right here.
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