As part of a special release celebrating 10 years as a band, Adorned Graves have “remixed – remastered – revocalized – reanimated” favorite tracks from their waterworlds albums Out from the Depths of the Grave and Being Towards a River.
Fans of 70s, 80s, and 90s metal, Adorned Graves hail from Kaiserslauten, Germany and got their start in 1993 as a traditional thrash band before incorporating doom and death metal into their sound. Early on the band was known as Ascension and recorded a couple of demos after changing their name to Adorned Graves in 1998. In 2011,music teacher, guitarist and producer Andreas Wormser joined brothers Cailen and Deafon Graever and the debut ep blending thrash and doom, The Hand of Death was released in 2015. Following the ep, the band released Out from the Depth of the Grave (2017), Being Towards a River (2020), and The Earth Hath Opened Her Mouth (2023) which saw the band’s sound incorporate more elements into their sound as well as featuring a number of high profile guest vocalists. For the special release Wouta, the band chose tracks from their two waterworld albums Out from the Depths of the Grave (2017) and Being Towards a River (2020). Symbolically the waterworld deals with life, death, new life, and resurrection and the flow of a river from fast mountain rapids to calm and peaceful meandering to the sea. Wouta and the previously released ep Dream I are part of a deal the band signed with Soundmass to celebrate 10 years as a band. The Dream I (ep) was previously reviewed and is a tribute to the metal scene 40 years ago in 1985 (https://mauce.nl/adorned-graves-dream-i-ep/) and rated as one of the best releases of 2025.
“Wouta” is a neologism coined by Cailen Graever, that should sound like an ancient word as it combines the word for water from old languages such as Roman, Celtic, Gaelic, English, French, and German. It also sounds similar to “Wouter” which means warrior or “the one who reigns” and “Wut” which means “furiousness”. All of this is an apt description for the album, which will be limited to 110 copies on vinyl. For those expecting the normal remix/remaster where you often are hard-pressed to find a difference, that is not the case here. Most obvious, there are new vocalists for the tracks, but beside that, the band aimed to optimize the sound for vinyl and give it an 80s feel, so some there is less emphasis on bass elements for some instruments, a stronger snare sound, and the mids are more present in the overall mix. The end result is that the tracks feel fresh and have more of an urgency compared to the previous versions, which were great on their own.
The album starts out innocent enough with “Out of the Deep”, this time with Federico Vogliolo (Lex Talion, Nemrod) handling the vocals. Deep, rich baritone vocals match well with the atmospheric keyboards and acoustic guitar through much of the song and the build in intensity as the song progresses heading toward the moment the band fully comes in. “Opus One” follows, this time with Craig Cairns (Metal Assault, Tailgunner) who does a great blend of Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson style vocals. The song starts out with a great 80’s metal riff as the opening before the band comes in that has a short solo overlayed in the intro before the song heads toward a near thrash metal pace driven by rumbling, heavy drums resulting in a fast galloping rhythm reminiscent of Iron Maiden, only to slow back to that original lone guitar riff leading into an ending sounding like old Metallica.
“The Lord over Many Waters” is next and this is the first “single edit” on the album. Dale Thompson handles vocals here demonstrating his great range and screams that seem otherworldly. To give you an idea of the edit, the original track “Efferevescent Torrent” clocks in over 9 minutes long and this edit is less than 4 minutes. The edit works very well and bridges metal and thrash nicely, keeping a couple guitar solos. “Killing Shadow Black” brings in Chris Ackerman (Betrayal) on vocals and is one of the faster tracks from a music standpoint with lots of double bass driving the speed, while the vocals are not at the same pace and clean but shouted over the music in old-school thrash style. The old school snare sound really stands out on this track and adds to that old-school feel.
Dale Thompson returns to lend vocals to “Panta Rhei” and Chris Ackerman teams up with Cailen Graever for vocals on one of my favorite tracks from the band, “Adorned Graves” with its mix of Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Slayer. I’ve mentioned in other Adorned Graves reviews how much I like that track and hearing it reimagined here is great. The slow, feedback drenched opening with one then two guitars really hits and then shifts into a slow sludgy riff with layered guitars trading parts before the rhythm section takes it into another speed and sets up main riff. Chris Ackerman’s vocal delivery is different enough from the original to make is seem like a completely new recording and when the song picks up to thrash speed, you can hear the effort needed to keep the vocals on pace. “Rheingold” is another edit and this time taking an 11 minute song down to 5. Drums are a key element to the overall sound of the song and they are more present here than in the original. Dale Thompson shows his range and power in the vocals on the track. Much like the other edit “The Lord over Many Waters”, “Rheingold” works great as a shorter track which is what is needed to keep the flow of this project. In both cases, I agree with including the songs and also with the edits, making them fit with rest of the tracks on this near “greatest hits” type album.
“Towards a River” has an extended guitar solo by Andreas Wormser and is actually longer than the original and clocks in near 8 minutes long. The beginning section of the song featuring clean female vocals from Ruth Börner Staub is quiet, haunting and beautiful and builds perfectly for Herbie Langhans (ex-Sinbreed, Firewind) to come in with the rest of the band. The album closes out with another edit, this time the instrumental “Source of Life” which features a guitar solo from Franz Romeggini and basically serves as an outro for the album.
Wouta showcases how previously recorded music can be made new again. Through remixing, remastering, making smart editing choices, and bringing in new vocalists Adorned Graves have managed to take a collection of previously recorded songs and created an album that is fresh and new and yet still familiar for those who enjoyed the original recordings. The result is a different take on the usual “greatest hits” albums, one that is worth buying.
Rating: 10/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
- Out of the Deep (revocalized by Fede Vogliolo)
- Opus One (revocalized by Craig Cairns)
- The Lord Over Many Waters (single edit of “Effervescent Torrent”, revocalized by Dale Thompson)
- Killing Shadow Black (revocalized by Chris Ackerman)
- Panta Rhei (revocalized by Dale Thompson)
- Adorned Graves (revocalized by Chris Ackerman, with Cailen Graever)
- Rheingold (single edit, revocalized by Dale Thompson)
- Towards a River (extended solo by Andreas Wormser, vocals by Ruth Börner Staub, Herbie Langhans)
- Source of Life (single edit, new lead guitar solo by Franz Romeggini)
Band Members
Cailen Leif Graever: rhythm guitars, vocals, lyrics, design
Deafon Graever: drums, vocals, lyrics
Lupus Veruta: bass
Andreas Wormser: lead guitars, guitars, production
Release Date: October 2025
Record Label: Soundmass
Band site: http://www.adorned-graves.de/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdornedGraves
Video for ‘Killing Shadow Black’