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Grimpen Mire - Untitled EP.
Having witnessed their live assault at a recent
Reanimator night, it's time to see how their studio work compares.
- The Rats In The Walls. Starts with a Hawkwind-style
guitar intro and continues in spacerock mode for a while.
Vocals are suitably sludgy but the intially interesting riff
doesn't develop and it plods along. Until the band slow it
down... The monolithic doom section is brutal, the track gets
progressivley slower accompanied by cleaner vocals.Patchy
yet promising start.
- Black Saturnalia. Quality stoner opening
riff with great bass sound and good groove in the chorus.
Production isn't great, with the snare being practically inaudible.
The Sabbath-inspired chugging riff midway through the track
is a belter. Stoner riff returns and the track continues in
this style to end.
- Spoken intro/sample.
- Through Leaden Sky. Colossal sludge/doom
opening riff, very heavy. Unfortunately the vocals get their
worst production yet. Gets heavier as the track slows down,
although the snare again needs to be more prominent in the
final mix. Works well in a monolithic doom way with Indesinence
and I Am Colossus springing to mind. A faster section gets
thrown in, somewhat pointlessly, and the track concludes with
a feedback outro.
- Blood Of My Gods. Track starts with another
Sabbath-inspired classic doom riff. The guitar sounds are
superb, especially the bass, although the lead guitar work
also works well. Vocals may as well not be there, nor indeed
the snare drum. Chugs along morosely and powerfully until
a pointless sample is used. This does however lead into a
particularly vicious doom section though. The minimalist ending
is a nice touch.
Production overall is sludgy and the vocals
and drums really suffer. The faster bridge sections don't work
for me I'm afraid. Despite my reservations there is a considerable
amount of potential here, and live they are especially brutal.
They generate immense power when they slow things down. Thought
the black playing side to the CD was a nice touch too. Needs remastering,
with the right tinkering this could be devastating. At the moment
their studio output falls into the promising category - but they
are definitely one to keep an eye on.
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