Be Afraid
Artist: Grave Robber
Label: Retroactive Records
Time 15 tracks/40:05 minutes

Wow, can you say Cannibal Corpse? After viewing the cover for Be Afraid, a bloody decomposing corpse crawling out of his grave, and reading song titles such as "Rigor Mortis" and "I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again," all I could think was Cannibal Corpse. Then I saw the press photos of the band in Slipknot style costumes, with names like Wretched (on "vokills"), Maggot, Nameless, and Dr. Cadaver. I expected Death Metal, the record label called it Goth Rock, but Grave Robber plays neither of those styles. Instead what we have is Ramones and Misfits style punk rock with a penchant for gory lyrics.

The music is surprising catchy for a band with a rotting corpse on its album cover. Often it is poppy, rarely does it grind with distortion, and the, ahem, "vokills" are quite well done, reminding me of Glen Danzig and Randy Rose. Unfortunately the songs are often repetitive, relying on similar sounding hooks and repeated "Whoah oh oh" gang vocals in almost every song. The lyrics are extremely evangelical, hearkening back to the classic evangelical metal and punk of the early nineties. Not afraid to discuss serious topics such as abortion and substitutionary atonement, the band tackles each with conviction, and where appropriate, a little bit of black humor. Note the stereotypical funeral dirge added to "Buried Alive," and the mock 50's love song "I Wanna Kill You Over and Over Again" (referring, of course, to the sinful nature of humanity).

The band (or perhaps the label) appears unsure of how to market this kind of music to the Christian market. The back of the booklet includes an alternate cover sans-gore, and the band even included a letter explaining all the symbolism in their lyrics and artwork, detailing how they speak to the horror-punk crowd "in their own language." The inclusion of this letter defeats its own purpose; concerned parents won't get a chance to read it as it is included _inside_ the record, and the aforementioned horror-punk audience will find it condescending and pandering. What was that about "speaking their language?"

Grave Robber appears to be trying way to hard to reach a specific audience with the gospel. The costumes, art, and pseudo-gory evangelical lyrics scream more of copping a trend than of authenticity. This record reeks of being a "Christian alternative" to mainstream bands such as the Misfits. That is not to say it is a bad record, the band has talent and potential, catchy tunes, and some of it is laugh out loud funny a la One Bad Pig. Grave Robber needs to find their own voice, when they do I will be afraid... very afraid.

Noah Salo