Ah, this is one that doesn’t particularly go against the trades description act. Even the name of the band is enough to unsettle with all those hard cutting letters; the fact that it translates as Grave Sorrow should not be overlooked. Gravsorg are from Denmark and play depressive black metal (in case you had not cottoned onto that). They are a trio and include the drummer of Woebegone Obscured a band whose debut album ‘Deathstination’ was recently dissected on these pages. This is the trio’s debut full length and it appears to have already been self released in 2009 before coming out now on Greek label Nykta Records.
Describing the album as “A hymn to depression and decay,” there is little denying this as the intro shrouds us in murky funereal gloom. It is when we arrive at ‘Avoiding The Living’ (a particular pastime of this writer) that there is a word on the very tip of my tongue and that is Xasthur! Yep there is no denying who Gravsorg worship here with their crystalline etched guitar play cutting like razor-wire and ghastly vocal shrieks full of contempt at life. There are similar lurching tonal sounds about their craft as well and they hit the negativity and misanthropy head on with reverence and decaying finesse. They do it so well at this point that if someone were to play this to me I would be scratching my head and asking what Xasthur album it had oozed from. Once they have the downright plagiarism out of their system Gravsorg attempt to inject a bit more of their own identity into proceedings. There are more feral vocals and an underlying unhinged feel about ‘Paranoia Dwells In The Desolate’ and the slow gravid guitar progressions are looser and tremble like the souls of the damned in deaths waiting room. This is a ponderous wrist slitter that is drenched in misery and should keep anyone into this style of music happy (in a double negative sense).
Suddenly the guitar sound increases for ‘Cemetery Wind’ with really sharp cadences and moaning groaning vocals making a chilly, breeze-laden sound in the background. Melody is rich and dismal and this really does convey the sound of the tomb before unexpectedly drums join in and the song takes up a new lease of cadaverous life. It is a fairly short album at just 35 minutes and although the spectre of Malefic seems to haunt this there is nothing to say that Gravsorg cannot build on this debut and come up with a greater identity of their own. There is plenty of atmosphere here and songs such as ‘Sarcophagus Doomed and Buried’ have admirably chilling, crepuscular melody running through them and the vocal howls are like that of the diseased and the damned. I will be interested to see where this lot take us on their next journey into desolation.
http://www.myspace.com/gravsorg666
Pete Woods
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