Remco Kreft, guitar player in SOULBURN, among other musical activities, is one of those well known guys in the Dutch and European Death Metal scene. Yet it is probably not that much known that he has a band called GRACELESS, where he handles both guitar and vocal duties. And this band is definitely one to check out for those into old fashioned European Death Metal with more than just a hint of Doom. Since GRACELESS recently signed with the long running French label Listenable Records, their new company started this collaboration with a series of re-releases of the first three GRACELESS albums with two bonus tracks each, exclusive to the CD version, while tape and vinyl feature just the original album. This means that now there is another chance to discover the musical quality of GRACELESS. The first album “Shadowlands” already was a very fine album, but the follow-up “Where Vultures Know Your Name” even is a step up, quality wise. The album starts off in a way that is nearly breathtaking. ‘Lugdunum Batavorum’ is a really heavy mountain of a song, with a beat that hits you like a ton of bricks slowly but inevitably sliding your way. Just saying: the title of the song derives the old Latin name of the band’s home town Leiden. But enough of that probably useless information, as there are other great songs as well on “Where Vultures Know Your Name”. Let’s take the grooving ‘Retaliation Of The Wicked’ as an example, with its variable songwriting, or ‘Nine Days Of Mourning’ that, after a great intro piece, develops into another slowly grinding monster of a Doom Death song. Another real highlight and feast for any lover of extreme Metal with style is the title track. Ultra-heavy and yet simple riffs meet a bulldozer beat, accompanied by drilling guitar harmonies. In the end we find ‘Embrace The Rain’, that is another mighty Doom tune with great guitars, completely my cup of tea. So, the songs from the original “Where Vultures Know Your Name” alone are worth checking this album out if you haven’t done so yet. As far as the bonus tracks exclusive to the new CD edition are concerned: these are two of the four songs from the split album “Endless Spiral Of Terror” that GRACELESS released in 2019 with GROND from Russia (the other two songs can be found on the re-release of “Shadowlands”). We have ‘Revenge Us’ and ‘In Thy Honour’ here, who on the one hand can’t stand up to the songs from the album, but on the other hand still are fine Doom Death songs that impress a little bit with a more raw production. In summary, I can only recommend “Where Vultures Know Your Name” to any Death Metal maniac in common and to those Doom Death lovers out there in particular. Visit the band at www.facebook.com/graceless.osdm or the label at www.facebook.com/listenablerecs