Friends. Countrymen. Fellow metalheads. Lend me your rears. So that this CD may soundly kick them hard, fast and continuously...
For those of you who have yet to assimilate this compilation into your extreme metal collection, hang your collective heads in SHAME. For this one CD, by its very existence, represents the audio equivalent of the dead rising from the grave. No joke. All four of these bands included (five, if you count the Flesh Walker bonus track at the tail end) were considered the most brutal Christian death metal to ever grace the underground. All the songs from Obliteration, Evisceration, Disencumbrance and Oblation were previously only available on cassette demos that became instant collectors items, especially when all of these bands each called it quits, their talent (some would argue genius) never getting to see the light of day in the land of national recognition. Pity. All of these would have given well-established Christian extreme metal bands of the time like Mortification, Believer and Living Sacrifice a run for their money.
Of these four, the top two I gravitate to are the tracks from Obliteration (simply brutal, brutal, BRUTAL death metal), and the highly controversial three song mini-death metal opera from Disencumbrance (which many mistook as pro-Satanism, but deeper study of the lyrics, and explanation from the band itself, revealed that they were exposing the lies of Satanism from a first-person perspective). Third would be Oblation, as I knew of them previously from their video for "Dead Unborn" on the Heaven's Metal video magazine, and then Evisceration. The Flesh Walker track is decent, it being a live track from the band that the producer of the CD and owner of Cross Rhythms...er, Blast Beats Music was in before hooking up with Oblation shortly before their demise.
Bottom line: GET THIS CD!!! CRANK IT!!!!!!! You'll thank me in the morning...
10/10
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #76Reviewed by Doug Van PeltHere's a Cross Rhythms sampler disc, put out by someone who knows extreme music - Alan Tregoning, who moved to Dallas from Australia 5 or 6 years ago to join Oblation. That's death metal loyalty! Here we get to feast on some meaty and solid metal. We get 4 tracks by Obliteration, 3 by Evisceration, 3 by Disencumbrance, 4 by Oblation, and a live track from Alan's old Aussie band - Flesh Walker.…The Phantom Tollbooth 1999Reviewed by Chris KingCross Rhythms Music (CRM) has done the extreme Christian metal underground a big favor in releasing this compilation. Chords of the Grave is essentially the re-release of demos by four different death metal bands. Obliteration starts the compilation off with a killer, brutal death metal sound. Despite not breaking much new ground, their classic American death metal growling and playing is done…Dead Zine 1998Reviewed by FetusChords of the Grave is my new kitty, get your own! Four (OK 5, kind of) bands in one tidy package, and as often as the "death" name is falsely slapped on anybody with distortion, everybody reeks of death here, no question. Unfortunately, "death" seems to be the fitting term because all of the bands are no longer (the B in Bummer.) OBLITERATION (4 tracks) Why did these guys change their sound when…Dead Zine 1998Reviewed by FletchCross Rhythms scores big with this release. Just buy it and find out why. If you haven't already, you are missing out and are way behind. If you have ever thought to yourself, "Boy I wish there was some more really good Christian death metal out there," your prayer has just been answered. All four bands, five if you count the bonus track, play top-notch death metal. Let's break this cd by the…Dead Zine 1998Reviewed by D_ListerGonna keep this one short and sweet for a change of pace ! BUY THIS CD NOW, and you should be ashamed for not having it already! There that felt good, now lemme get down to details. I've heard it time and time again, that the Christian Death Metal scene does not exist, and that there is not good Christian Death Metal. Well to the best of my knowledge, only one of the bands on this CD still is…Similar sounding releases
1999Embodyment1993-1996
1998Day of AtonementCremation of the Guilty
1997ParamaeciumRepentance
1996Frank's EnemyNeoblasphemies
2002Acoustic TormentSchwarzwald
2005Pale HorseUntil the Last Seal Is Opened...
