Artist: Gravewürm
Country: USA
Label: Funeral Empire Records
Formats: CD
Year: 2026
People are quick to mention Nunslaughter when it comes to bands that have been stoically grinding away for decades, never managing to achieve a major breakthrough but at the same time enjoying a great deal of goodwill thanks to that very attitude. But in that respect, you really have to mention the American Black Metal band Gravewürm in the same breath as Nunslaughter. A huge number of releases, most of which were released independently or through small underground labels, and an unrelenting zeal characterize Gravewürm to this day. It is with great embarrassment that I must admit that I have not yet given this band a place on our pages. Ouch! Well, I’m going to rectify that right now.
Although I would not like to claim to be familiar with everything the band did, I have always had a soft spot for Gravewürm – I always like to root for the underdog. And, honestly, I have been collecting their 7” EP’s since the early 00’s, these were one of the first releases on the Iron Bonehead Productions label. That’s something that adds to the curious case of Gravewürm, they have worked with some excellent underground labels, besides Iron Bonehead Productions they also released material through Hells Headbangers Records, Nuclear War Now! Productions, Miriquidi Productions, Time Before Time Records and Barbarian Wrath. Yet, the majority of the band’s last output was released by their own imprint, Funeral Empire Records. Not to mention the musicians that were previously involved in the (live) band such as Jim Konya and Don of the Dead (both of Nunslaughter fame), Tony Blakk (Acheron) or Gelal Necrosodomy (Grand Belial’s Key).
Without really wanting to do a very deep analysis on the how’s and why’s in this matter, what could perhaps distract the potential listener is that Gravewürm is releasing multiple albums per year. Last year, 2025, came out with no less than four albums. Although that is their best score to date, more than one album has been released in each of the past years. But, in their defence, from what I’ve heard from all of those albums, they neither of those is really bad.
If Gravewürm is new to you and you’re listening to this new album ‘Along The Path Of Darkness We March’, simultaneously released with ‘To Rule The Night’ (Gravewürm’s 30th and 31st album respectively!), you can imagine that it might not take a whole lot to come up with a good few songs every year. In that respect, Gravewürm is not too different from Nunslaughter: they both rely on simple catchiness. No frills or whatsoever. In fact, listening to a whole album might be tiresome to a quite a few people, especially if you are used to or fond of versatile and adventurous song writing. None of that is to be found here, or anywhere in the entire Gravewürm discography. Some of the previously released material has a bit of a stronger Death Metal connotation or even has a thrashy riff here and there, but ‘Along The Path Of Darkness We March’ is mostly played in one rather dragging tempo with lots of repetitive riffs.
The primitive song writing is something that you either love or hate, but it will definitely appeal to people who prefer their Black Metal based on the principles laid out by Hellhammer and Samael. The whispering vocals might remind of Demoncy or even Beherit, but there’s no chaos and no faster parts. It really mainly is straight forward and leans heavily on the atmosphere that’s evoked out of that rawness and repetitive nature of the riffs. By doing that, they align perfectly with bands such as Sathanas, Goatlord, Evil Incarnate and… Nunslaughter.
With more than 30 full albums to their name, I don’t think Kevin “Funeral Grave” Fye still harbors any illusions about taking Gravewürm to the top or winning Grammys, but it remains a more than likeable band that still deserves more recognition than it currently gets.
