★★★★★
When 45 Grave first came along, it wasn't just another act seeking to join the Gothic rock bandwagon. Instead, it was very much like a lot of other LA punk rock acts at the time, such as the Germs and the Bags. Only it was colored with a distinctly Gothic, black tinge.
This CD is a reissue of the act's 1988 concert release, where the group was caught during one of its sporadic reunion gigs...
- www.popmatters.com
2009-03-22
★★★★★
If Christian Death trumped 45 Grave when it came to releasing a debut album -- Only Theatre of Pain having surfaced a little while earlier -- then there's no question that Sleep in Safety is easily the equal, if not better than the other band's initial effort...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-27
★★★★★
From out of nowhere -- or, more accurately, out of Grave drummer Don Bolles' massive collection of outtakes and live tapes -- Debasement Tapes saw the light in 1993, presenting the band in all their scuzzily creepy glory. While the fidelity varies like crazy, even the murkier cuts often contain something special, and as a portrait of the band at their most experimental and most hilarious (often at the same time!), it can't be beat...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-27
★★★★★
Recorded at one of many one-off L.A. reunion shows the Grave did in the late '80s -- in this case, at Hollywood's Raji's club in July 1988 -- Young captures the four members having fun with their back catalog, and a few new numbers to boot. If anything, no longer being an active band seemed to give the quartet a chance to be even crisper in terms of performance, though, arguably, fans of the sheer live chaos of their earlier days (as documented on Debasement Tapes) will miss that here...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-27