As brutally heavy as their music is, Graves guitarist Shaun O’Brien believes their songs aren’t just a soundtrack to mosh-pit carnage.
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“It’s (new release Monster) a bit of a concept album lyrically, because it’s really relevant to our vocalist’s (Rhys Benn) mental health and upbringing,” the Shellharbour Village resident said.
“It’s a really good vent for him… Because he suffers from schizophrenia, depression and bipolar.
“All his lyrics pretty much tell his story, about (topics like) finding out he had schizophrenia… So that’s pretty much what the whole album’s built off.”
The axeman believes their material also served a vital purpose for fans. “He gets quite a few kids coming up to him at shows, saying, ‘this song helps me out’, or ‘I can relate to it quite a bit’.”
The extreme metal band released debut album Monster on Friday via Melbourne-based label Greyscale Records.
In recent months Graves have opened for Byron Bay heavyweights Parkway Drive in Wollongong, and toured Australia with America’s Suicide Silence and Sydney’s Thy Art Is Murder.
Those highlights aside, since forming five years ago the eight-string guitar-wielding outfit has navigated some tricky waters at times.
Setbacks included line-up changes, finding appropriate management and “quite a bit of financial pressure and troubles, both personally and within the band”.
O’Brien, 24, said initially all five band members hailed from the Illawarra.
Nowadays, besides Unanderra resident Benn, other players are located in Nowra and Newcastle.
“We had to push through quite a bit of stuff to get to this album, but we’re here now,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien described their sound as “a mixture of deathcore, metalcore, nu-metal and hardcore”.
“It’s definitely not for everyone. One of our new singles was played on Triple-J daytime radio the other week, and we saw a couple of the messages that were sent in. Stuff like, ‘what is this music?’ It’s pretty funny, having to explain it to people.
“You just tell them you worship the devil or something like that,” he laughed.
The University of Wollongong student is eyeing a career as a high school history teacher. “I always want to be playing in a band though, whether it’s like in a hardcore or metal band, or a pub-rock band or something like that.
“I always love being involved in music in some way or another. It’s too fun not to be.”
Graves will undertake a national headlining tour alongside Texan crew Kublai Khan. This will include a Licensed/All Ages show at Towradgi Surf Life Saving Club on December 4.
