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Grá > Lycaon > Reviews
Grá - Lycaon

A monster made of many faces - 90%

SilviaMetal_666, November 1st, 2024
Written based on this version: 2023, Digital, Independent

Almost five years since “Väsen” saw the light, and what a long wait! But finally, FI-NA-LLY!!, Grá released their 4th full-length album, now as a trio after the departure of Maugrim. Heljarmadr (vocals and guitars), Dimman (drums and percussion) and Vediger (bass) unleashed their creativity to do a new album, “Lycaon”, which initial sound will take you by surprise.

Yes, the first noticeable thing is that this album sounds different. The production is more clean to the ears, surely the fact that this album is the first one that has not been mixed and mastered by Heljarmadr has something to do with it. And, the music… well, if you are familiar with Grá you can appreciate that something has changed, too. I’d dare to say that they have gone for a more "accessible" approach to their music. Maybe that’s not the exact word, but more or less.

Personally, I like when a band is not doing the “copy-paste” thing in all their albums. Creativity is always welcome, and this band has been evolving in a good way. Truth is that “White City Devil”, the opener track, sounds unconventional for the band. It’s catchy and very different from the previous music by Grá, with a more dynamic sound; the main riff is hard to get off from your head since the first listen, and the bass have big predominance in the mix (oh in fact, it’s like this all along the eight tracks). An extra point for Vediger! The following “Flame of Hephaestus” is warming things a bit more, drums are playing faster in some passages and the tremolo guitar playing sounds familiar here. Yeah, it seems that this album is going in the good direction!

Heljarmadr vocals sound as wicked as always, this man is constantly spitting some kind of bitter venom with his harsh screams. And his guitar playing is flawless, I love when this instrument is in a “hypnotic mode on” like in “Lycaon”, the fourth track. I’m also enjoying a lot the twists and turns of drums in this song, where Dimman shows his vast repertoire at the percussion set. And right after this, a fast and furious cover of Bathory’s “Chariots of Fire” follows up and leaves you breathless, if you’re human.

“Brännmärkt” is the longest track, it has a dark and menacing atmosphere, I can’t understand the lyrics ‘cause this is one of the songs in Swedish, but that’s my feeling while listening to it. Starting with a slow tempo, and showing a lot of aggression through vocals, with sounds of war in the middle to make this track even more ominous… For me it’s great in terms of composition. And the album ends with “Jaws of the Underworld”, an instrumental track mostly focused on drums and percussion (Dimman is shining here), with some horns that bring a special touch to this closing theme.

Truth is that I miss a bit the cold and more ‘defleshed’ sound from their early works but “Lycaon” is a monster made of many faces, every time I listen to this album I’m finding out something new. 9/10 by Sílvia

Originally written in Blessed Altar Zine

Link to the original review

Sorry, but you can’t win them all - 71%

VladimirCokorilo, January 13th, 2023
Written based on this version: 2023, Digital, Independent

The year 2023 is still young and fresh with many metal releases being forged in the studio or waiting for their time to rise. Among those releases that decided to start off this year is Grá’s new album Lycaon, pre-released on Black Metal Promotion’s YouTube channel on January 6th, a week before its initial release date on January 13th via the label Avantgarde Music. Although I haven’t been really following Grá actively since I heard about them, I decided to take a look at this one and see what they prepared. Heljarmadr has been quite busy with all that hype surrounding Dark Funeral’s new album We Are the Apocalypse, so it’s quite a surprise that he managed to squeeze in another musical release with his contribution. Has the year of our lord 2023 started off well with Lycaon?
 
The album is mostly consisted of slow and epic heavy metal-like riffs with occasional tremolo picking, breakdowns, melodies, Heljarmadr’s harsh singing vocals and mid-tempo drums with double-bass drumming (“Flame of Hephaestus”, “Lycaon”) and some thrash metal drumming (“Lycaon”). There are a few tracks that stand out a bit, such as the seventh track “Brännmärkt” which has some sort of doom metal vibe to its slow pace rhythm, the final track “Jaws of the Underworld” with a drum solo which goes on for the first 2 minutes before guitars and keyboards join in with a military marching fashion, and the fifth track which is the cover of Bathory’s “Chariots of Fire” with a more modern musical approach when compared to the original. Some of the highlights from this album would be the sound production which is quite grandiose, Heljarmadr’s vocals which are the probably the most dominating factor of this album and Grá’s music in general, and the second track “Flame of Hephaestus” which has a moment of catchy mid-tempo riffing and drumming that reminds me a bit of Darkthrone’s song “Earth’s Last Picture”. As for my overall impression, I still don’t know what to make of it, there isn’t that much to be found on this album other than a few catchy moments on songs such as “White City Devil”, “Flame of Hephaestus”, “Torn Asunder” and “Ett avskedsbrev”, although with the exception of “Chariots of Fire” being the only cover track. Most of the songs are done in such a similar fashion that there isn’t anything stellar that stands out from this album other than the fact that it’s well produced and that’s it really. The good thing about Lycaon is that the songs aren’t too long or too repetitive which would have made this entire album a total misfire.
 
Although I didn’t like this album as much as I wanted to, I think that there is still some quality to it which deserves appreciation that might attract your attention. What people like me desire or seek in black metal albums, Grá’s new album Lycaon doesn’t really possess any of those traits other than a few honorable instances of catchiness that managed to captivate to a certain degree. I’d advise you to approach this album with very low expectations if you’re really eager to hear it, maybe you will be more successful in finding its strongest points which I failed to notice.

Written www.MetalBite.com