One look at the bands line-up will tell you that Grave Robber are a bunch of zombie mask wearing weirdo’s and Be Afraid is a one dimensional and ill conceived attempt at bringing all things Spinal Tap to the all too often humourless arena of Christian Metal. A solitary organ and some incoherent rambling makes up the droning intro of ‘The Exorcist’ and this is followed by the all out punk assault of ‘Skeletons’. The bulk of what follows is somewhere between the two to three minutes mark per track and delivered at the same relentless pace. As the PR informs us that Graver Robber are undertaking a “unique ministry” there is presumably some sort of irony intended via the lyrics which taken in isolation are pretty close to abysmal on the likes of ‘Burn Witch Burn’, ‘Bloodbath’ and ‘Rigor Mortis’.

But just when you think the band are simply having a laugh along comes the pro-life ‘Screams of the Voiceless’ which starts and ends with a baby’s cry and includes the cheerful lines “you don’t have a voice, but mommy has a choice” and “it’s murder in the first degree, but she’ll walk away free”. So it turns out Grave Robber really are doing God’s work after all….

There is more of a Ramones vibe to the latter half of the album, notably on ‘Schizofiend’ and the insistent ‘I Wanna Kill You Over And Over Again’ which bounces along quite nicely. But this is a rare occasion when the album lifts itself above what can best be described as turgid.

In a word, avoid.