On his third full-length, Jeffrey Wilson aka Deeper Graves takes the listener on a journey through gothic post-punk bliss.
Release date: February 27, 2026 | Disorder Recordings | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
Of all the genres and subgenres and scenes out there, goth rock is one that has historically attempted to keep an admirably straight face. Type O Negative famously had frontman Peter Steele moaning like Dracula in his trademark baritone, while the industrial scene co-opted its black leather aesthetics as Trent Reznor screamed about things being put inside him and changing into something else for over 30 years with Nine Inch Nails. Earnest and all as it is, it’s a style that has floated dangerously close to self-parody – even the mainstream behemoth that was Evanescence petered out after their multi-platinum debut album grafted boneheaded nu-metal chugging onto goth rock’s depressive template, putting the final nail in the coffin for the style’s commercial acceptance…until recently, that is, with goth fashion in particular making a big comeback in numerous music circles. At this point, what visual identity HASN’T been squeezed dry for all of its worth?
Deeper Graves, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Wilson, comes at goth rock from a refreshing angle. His music incorporates the droning guitar of shoegaze, the pulse of classic post-punk, and the leaden crunch of doom metal into the mix on PULL ME TOWARD THE DARK. After a moody synth intro, the album begins proper with “NO TIME FOR LOVE”, a driving rocker with a prominent keyboard line and cycling, memorable drum fills. The down-strummed guitar melodies give it accessibility that the dejected vocals only hint at, allowing the song to maintain that sweet spot of catchy, underground appeal. It comes together in an enjoyably throbbing combination.
“OVER MY SHOULDER” plays up the doomgaze quotient of Deeper Graves‘s sound, with tremolo guitar ringing out over a sludgy drum pattern. Wilson’s forlorn vocals, reminiscent of Jesu on an especially sad day, pull the whole mournful composition together in a way that doesn’t feel its five minutes at all. By contrast, “ALL THESE YEARS” adopts a more traditional midtempo groove that gets the head bobbing; the only weak point is the ending, which disappointingly fades out instead of offering a definitive climactic moment. Fortunately, “WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE” picks things up to a danceable speed with constantly moving, textured percussion and the album’s strongest vocal hook. The post-punk vibe really shines through here, finding that golden cross-section between nihilistic and energetic.
“THE TRUTH” takes nearly half its runtime to move beyond what initially sounds like an experimental synth interlude, and although the song does eventually take shape, it remains one of the lesser songs on the album and likely could have been cut (or at least cut down) without losing anything from the tracklist. Thankfully, the title track closes out PULL ME TOWARD THE DARK in fitfully melancholic fashion, with its syncopated, tom-heavy drum beat bringing to mind The Cure before the composition opens up. Wilson’s vocals, heavily layered and distorted, are a perfect match for the guitar jangling that takes up the last leg of the song. The fadeout on this one, unlike “ALL THESE YEARS”, feels more justified at the end of the album due to its thematic significance: Both Deeper Graves and the listener have successfully been pulled into the dark, but they’ve managed to shake a tailfeather on their way there. While some trimming here and there would have benefitted one or two songs (the average song length is about five minutes, and there are only six full songs on the album), PULL ME TOWARD THE DARK by and large conjures up that feeling of a nighttime walk through dimly lit streets, wondering when time will finally take us. How deep will this grave go, exactly? I’ll be interested to find out.
