Album Type: Full Length
Date
Released:
13/02/2017
Label: Art Of Propaganda
"Grimen" keeps getting
better, the more you listen. It stirs the imagination with its ferocity and
complexity. From its excellent pacing to its subtle use of varied instruments,
it's a breathtaking achievement for a band that's just getting started.
“Grimen”
CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Prowler
2. Fabulist
3. Antlers
4. Cringe
5. Specter
6. Embodiment
2. Fabulist
3. Antlers
4. Cringe
5. Specter
6. Embodiment
The Review:
Out
of the dead of winter, Gloson emerge with their debut full length,
"Grimen". The follow up to
their 2014 EP, "Yearwalker",
“Grimen” is a full dose of
foreboding post metal sludge, steeped in Scandinavian folklore. The New
Year release seems fitting if we follow the lore of “Yearwalker”, where the seeker goes on a quest for enlightenment,
fasting and avoiding all human contact, culminating in supernatural challenges,
and hopefully visions of the future. If “Grimen”
is the manifestation of those visions, then much like the Swedish winters of Gloson's
homeland, the future is dark.
"Prowler"
comes on fast, establishing a tense and heavy riff before the vocals hit like a
sudden storm. Not breakneck, but determined and relentless. You can
imagine being driven by the storm, seeking shelter to no avail, until a wild
piercing solo draws your attention from the maelstrom to some new
unknown. Enter the "Fabulist". A brief shimmering
intro leads to dense heavy sludge doom. Ponderously slow but still
insistent, muscular with a portence of pending annihilation. Imagine the
ground crumbling beneath you in slow motion but being powerless to escape
Instead
of annihilation we get a moment of respite and a brilliant change pace with
"Antlers". Creeping in on an eerie and dissonant guitar
melody, paired with a didgeridoo (you heard me), we’re introduced to a
completely different soundscape. The snare strikes like thunder to give way to
the voice of dread who unfolds the tale of his undoing. In despair, the ominous
voice proclaims "I wear the antlers of the grim, the sun
deceived me". I won't read more into this track because you'll
enjoy it more by building your own tapestry from it. As the fury of the story
teller mounts, so too does the song structure. It's suspenseful and
haunting, a track that demands replaying, in the middle of an album that just
keeps growing in complexity.
From
the despair of “Antlers”, "Cringe" launches a new
offensive on your senses. Layer upon layer it grows, becoming more
intense and strident than its predecessors. Militant percussion, swirling
guitars, the occasional tolling of a bell and the brutal roar of lyrics that
usher in a final destruction by fire. Out of those ashes crawls "Spectre"
on a lilting acoustic melody paired with melancholy strings. The track
appears to be a brief and gentle remembrance of what was lost in the fire until
it overpowers into another brief and brutal explosion, contemplating the
mourners spectre of failure.
The
album winds to a close with "Embodiment", a loping and
lengthy instrumental (or so it would appear) careening back and forth for eight
minutes between pensive post metal and smothering doom. Just when you think
it's all over, the shredded voice of dread returns to remind you that it's
never over. "Grimen"
keeps getting better, the more you listen. It stirs the imagination with its
ferocity and complexity. From its excellent pacing to its subtle use of varied
instruments, it's a breathtaking achievement for a band that's just getting
started.
“Grimen” is available to buy/preorder here
