Blood, Monsters, Darkness

We all know there has been a split in black metal fandom between people who 'get it' and then those screwy mall goths whose concept of black metal involves Cradle of Filth, Marilyn Manson and bad horror films and sequels like the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

So, how about a band that takes the cheesy, symphonic horror shtick and actually makes it into something both hilarious and cool? Gloomy Grim is that band, and be prepared to have your heart wrenched out by their wonderful and hilarious music. This is their debut from a decade past, and quite a debut, setting the tone for much of their discography (though arguably they are a little heavier on more recent releases).

It only takes the first track "War" to tear a new asshole into the entire cheesy symphonic black metal genre, as well as fairy metal. After a creepy haunted house piano/strings intro, the grim vocals of Agathon (of Thy Serpent, the legendary Barathrum and others) begin their blood-tinted poetic spew, accompanied by the haunting fairy vocals of 'Whisper Lilith'. It's the perfect opening track, hooky and endearing and memorable. "Asylum" is a slower song, with a building crescendo of riffs reminiscent of Candlemass adorned in the band's silly symphonic touches. "Children of the Underworld" and "Ocean of Candles" follow the same formula as the opening track, though "Ocean" has a more direct passage of Lilith's vocals. "Pope of the Black Arts" and "The Summoning" are two of the better tracks on the album, and they even do a cover of Ozzy's "Over the Mountain" which sounds slightly out of place even though they give it the Grim treatment. Perhaps the tune is just too uplifting in comparison to the rest.

The production is pretty good on the album though it may have been served by more acoustic sounding drums. Much of this sounds like programmed beats and it may be the one issue I had here. Some of Lilith's vocals also leave something to be desired. Again, if you're only interested in the newsprint purity of true black metal, the rather tongue in cheek appeal of Gloomy Grim will feel below the belt, but that's the beauty of it. It's a delightful irony, set to quality music for its style. The band does get heavier on some of their later albums, but this is where it started and I recall laughing out loud even back then.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

What do you get when you mix Beherit with Nightwish, two of Finland's biggest names? Well, certainly not Gloomy Grim! What Gloomy Grim actually is, is one of those ‘black’ metal bands that uses a lot of keyboards, and can’t be taken seriously, in the same line as bands such as Dimmu Borgir. However, Gloomy Grim has managed to make some sort of classic in this subgenre of bands normally rejected by both ‘real’ black metal fans and gothic metal fans. For in the subgenre of pseudo-black metal, appreciable keyboard-play is valued, and this release has plenty of that, and in this subgenre the anti-christian lyrics usually get taken to such levels that it becomes a parody of itself, unless you take them with a lump of salt, and Gloomy Grim excels in doing absurd anti-christian lyrics as well.

From the monumental opener track, ‘War’, blasphemic engrish comes at you over stomping guitars and intricately done yet relatively straightforward and even mostly simple synth-lines. Most of the lyrics are in the vein of War’s “Like pack of wolves // We hunted our preys at night // Why did they put you into holy ground // When you died?”. The theme of anti-christianity and longing for the underworld runs throughout the album’s lyrics, and occasionally reaches levels of absurdity, like when wishing a lot of pain on Jesus or commending church-burnings. If you take them with a pinch of salt or two, they’re fun, especially with the slightly awkward ‘grim’ vocals.

One of the things that makes this album listenable and not just mock-worthy, is how catchy the music can be. The songs are solid, and in their symphonic way, even moderately headbangable. The guitars are how they should be, solid in the mix and relatively varied, and the drums are tight and done by a really well-programmed drumcomputer, in such a way that it doesn’t bother me that it is a drumcomputer. The male vocals sound a bit forced in their ‘grimness’, but there’s room for vocal emphasis that gets utilised. The female vocals however, are a bit off-key, which is bad (no wonder they dropped her for the next release), except when they’re used as chants in a keyboard-sample like fashion. I suspect the keyboards are recorded separately twice, as commonly two keyboard-lines run over each other (usually a piano combined with either chants or violin-pluckings). It’s a nice effect, and together with the other instruments make the songs a solid whole, for symphonicy pseudo-black goodness.

The other thing that makes this album very listenable is the excellent production. I’m told Holy Records commonly have the best possible production, and I’m not inclined to disbelieve that fact based on this record. Not only are all the instruments clearly in the mix in proper doses, there’s also several of ‘production-noodles’, like a track that starts at –0:20 with weird background noises for those 20 seconds. Hey, extras are extras. Oh and the hidden bonus-bit at the end made me laugh, especially after doing something else, not expecting it after several minutes of silence.

All in all however, this album shouldn’t be taken as a laugh-riot, but more as a surprisingly good symphonic pseudo-black metal release. As long as you don’t take this album and band seriously, the record might even make you smile. Album highlights: War, and Blood. Over the Mountain, the Ozzy-cover isn’t that bad for a song that gets raped, and Crucifixion, the keyboard instrumental (except for the utterly grim utterance “Armageddon...ist…here!”) has it’s own charm.