Welcome to The Saw’s Butcher Shop. Once again, New-School Death Metal has come crashing in like a ten-ton heavy thing! The Saw has a Live…New Album Review for you today, and it comes from a band that is tearing-up the scene – they’ve been on tour for over a year and a half. Undeath have released Live…From the Grave (Prosthetic Records), a follow-up to April, 2022s banging New Album, It’s Time…To Rise from the Grave (Prosthetic Records). Ya Girl gave that New Album a 10/10 review!

Live…From the Grave was recorded at Pop’s in Sauget, Illinois on May 27, 2022 while in support of Dying Fetus. It bears mentioning, also, that Undeath have been featured on the cover of the Year-End issue of Decibel, and It’s Time…To Rise from the Grave took the #1 spot on Decibels Top 40 Albums of the Year list. Live…From the Grave is available on all streaming services, and physical copies of the album will be available in 2023.

So, live recordings (and live shows, themselves) have come a long way. I have all of the KISS records (on original Casablanca vinyl) from their “masked” days. Alive I and II are my earliest experience with live recordings. In the old days, the technology just wasn’t there for live recordings, so “piped in” crowds and tracked songs were the norm. Later, the “live” recordings were actually live, but many bands didn’t (or couldn’t) sound the same as they did in studio. Recent times and technology have changed all that. Live…From the Grave is an excellent example of recording straight off the mixing board, AND the professional musicianship of the band.

This live record, first, sounds really good! The recording is crystal clear (you can even hear the crowd), and the band is exceptionally precise when compared to the studio recordings. Secondly, Undeath are killing this show! As you know, their music is a new take on that old (beautiful) Death Metal. Awesome grooves and bounce are their specialty, but also Undeath have some very technical riffs and drum work. Lyrical content is in the form of classic Death Metal gore (for example, the song, “Human Chandelier”). And the set that is recorded wastes (almost) no time. They barrel through many of their newest songs, the title track from Lesions of a Different Kind (Prosthetic Records), and spend just a minute celebrating a birthday.

Live…From the Grave is a really good Live album – both in sound of the recording, and in the abilities of Undeath. If you can’t catch them live and in-person, then this record is the next best thing. Undeath are solid, focused, and really good at their craft. They work hard, tour hard, and represent Death Metal well! And the seven (actual) tracks on this live record give you a good taste of Undeath, or simply a good banging of the head! The live album gave me a glimpse of what to expect when I saw them on November 16th for their Slave to the Grave co-headlining tour with 200 Stab Wounds. Undeath sounds just as good live as they do on their records.

Don’t sleep on Undeath, Butcher Crew! They are taking the death metal world by storm!

Stay Metal,

THE SAW