South Korea’s GRAVE GENERATOR, the industrial metal project by Nic Heidt, has released its debut EP, “There Is No Peace Amongst The Stars,” today, March 20th. The EP is out via GIVE/TAKE and aims to push the boundaries of what metal can be.
Heidt, an engineer, musician, and producer, built GRAVE GENERATOR on years of audio experimentation. The project combines metal aggression and songwriting with abrasive textures made only from synthesizers. It respects metal’s roots but tries to break its traditional sound and instrumentation.
The whole idea behind GRAVE GENERATOR started with a question: Can you make metal without guitars and bass? Not industrial music with its club beats, but proper, screeching, double-kick metal ready for a mosh pit? With help from Jonathan Ford of Dissociate, the answer is a resounding yes.
This approach frees GRAVE GENERATOR from typical sonic limits. It allows for tuning, timing, and tonal shifts that would be impossible with traditional metal setups. Using synthesizers and software, Heidt brings together his wide influences, from Nile and Testament to The Prodigy and Stabbing Westward. The result is something both striking and violently intense.
You’ll hear thrash, groove, and industrial-metal elements, even hints of early Ministry, but there are genuinely surprising parts throughout the EP. The goal was always to honor the metal gods while shaking up the genre’s foundations.
“I felt like metal had stopped surprising me lately. It was beginning to sound very homogenous. The guitar and bass tones, the drums, certain vocal layers…they all just felt too similar to each other. I haven’t popped in a new album and thought, ‘Damn, what is that?’ forever. I want to change that.” – Nic Heidt
GRAVE GENERATOR is a love letter to metal, built on intentionally dismantling its core components. It’s a metallic synthesis designed to make you feel things you might not expect.
The EP features five tracks:
- Excavating Marrow
- Good Night
- Spine Factory
- Betrayal
- 1 of 1,000
Nic Heidt handled all writing, performance, production, engineering, mixing, and mastering. Jonathan Ford provided assistant engineering. Photos are by Kim Byung Su, and design/layout by J. Lexvold.
Experience The Future of Metal
You can grab “There Is No Peace Amongst The Stars” on CD or digital now. Go give it a listen if you’re curious about where industrial metal is heading.
If you haven’t heard Grave Generator yet, now is the time. Grave Generator has been dropping some heavy new material. Stream on The Underground Kings and experience in full.
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