Ah, yes, epic heavy metal. It's one of my favorite things on planet Earth, and right up there with death metal as far as satisfying my metal-listening tapeworm. Gravety from Germany have laid upon us their third full length and first in five years. I can't speak to what their earlier releases were like, but the Archives tells us they once referred to their style as "thrash 'n' doom" metal. That's not inaccurate as far as they riffs go at all. They have a definite chug factor like a thrash metal band does, but their vocal melodies push them completely into the epic heavy metal category. The remind me a lot of the band Doomsword, another epic doom band with a distinct heavy metal side to them. While this isn't as musically capable as, say, a band like Khemmis (not much is), the band is quite good at evoking that epic feel I like so much, relying on the bombastic riffs and soaring vocals to give us that feel. The vocal harmonizing is key to this, and it's done often and well, but not outside of the vocalist's range. He stays in his comfort zone for the most part, and that's smart. There's a heavy H.P. Lovecraft influence at work in the lyrics and album concept, which is nice to hear outside of extreme metal. The lyrics seem to tell stories, which I am a fan of ever since when I was young I realized that's what King Diamond was doing with his lyrics - telling us a story. While not knock-me-over incredible, this is highly respectable, and fans of the epic shit should go out of their way to find it. Plus, the cover art is amazing and evocative.