Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: July 31st 2015
Label: Kozmik Artifactz Records
Grusom – S/T - Track Listing:
1. First Sermon
2. Come Closer
3. Evil
4. Cold Stone
5. The Journey
6. No Gods
7. Bleed For You
8. The Reaper
9. Grusome
Bio:
Just one month after releasing their demo on Bandcamp, Grusom signed with the German record label "Kozmik Artifactz Records" - November 2014. Jacob Bredahl from Dead Rat Studio did the recording of their debut album. Grusom wanted to keep the feel of the actual recording as true and authentic as possible. Jacob caught Grusom’s sound and soul by recording all music in one room at the same time. Grusom’s debut album is expected to hit the street and shelves sometime during July 2015 (vinyl, cd and digital).
Band Members:
Nicolaj Hoffmann Jul – vocals
Peter Pørtner - keys
Jakob Kaae - drums
Dennis Warburg – guitar
Thomas Ulrik – guitar
Søren Olesen - bass
Review:
Danish rockers Grusom have crafted an impressively dark debut for German record label Kozmik Artifactz. There’s a sinister Hammer Horror/satanic biker vibe underlying the album’s 9 tracks, providing Grusom a gloomy backdrop to present their fog-enshrouded blues-rock tales of creeping evil, Gothic horror and murder. While they may draw comparisons to the current scene of occult rockers with a similar ‘70s-inspired sound, they don’t particularly sound like any one of their peers.
Fans of Blood Ceremony, Graveyard, Danzig, The Doors and Steppenwolf will find common ground here. The album begins with “First Sermon”, a leslie-drenched instrumental organ prelude that showcases the brooding and densely melodic lead organ (and later, piano) of Peter Pørtner. From there on in, the tasteful dual guitars of Dennis Warburg and Thomas Ulrik expertly trade off melody and rhythm with Pørtner, never competing for space in the arrangement. Nicolaj Hoffman Jul’s impassioned and powerful vocals are a highlight throughout the record; he has a quality in his voice that breaks up nicely when he pushes it in the heavier moments, and every phrase is filled with haunted emotion.
For a band this young (forming in 2013, they signed in late 2014 from a 3 song DIY demo they’d just released) this is a very cohesive debut. Tracks 3, 8 and 9 come from the aforementioned demo, and are among the strongest songs on the record, but really there aren’t any misfires here. After several spins through I’m really digging the haunted, organ-soaked heavy blues vibe of this album as a whole. Well worth a listen/purchase.
Words by Bill Kole
Thanks To Richard at Sheltered Life PR for the promo. Grusom – S/T – album will be available to buy from Kozmik Artifactz Records on CD/Vinyl from July 31st 2015.
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