GraVil are essentially a duo comprising of vocalist Gra and instruments Vil (yep see what they did there). They are based in London but Vil is from Finland and as their cartoon concept which is presented in the booklet of this E.P. and their MySpace is concerned they are currently banged up following a trial by a court of zombies for ‘unauthorised use of free will’ and ‘overuse of freedom of speech.’ It strikes as a bit of an Orwellian / Kafaka type utopian nightmare and an interesting one that I am sure they will develop on future releases. Sure the comic book band is not original, think Gorillaz and of course Dethklok, but of course if ideas are interesting there is always room for more and the artwork to go with this is very dark and striking.
Apparently their first EP ‘Something Worth Chasing’ got rave media reviews last year and they have followed it up with another 5 tracker, spreading the word further no doubt before engaging on an album and world domination. As we bounce into ‘The Helmsman’ the Scandinavian vibe is all over this with guitars and drumming giving the music an atypical melodeath vibe. Vocals however I have to admit to being unconvinced about, Gra has a rasp that actually does sound like he has a throat full of gravel. It’s a bit marmite and takes some getting used to and unfortunately much as I try on the whole I find them grating. The title track has an aggressive stance around it and with a different vocalist and some backing gang chants could almost have a hardcore swagger about it. This is further enforced with ‘Heaviosity (Will Ensure)’ the stand out track as far as I am concerned. The vocals on the chorus are lower and beefy with a real hardcore flavour about them, if they went for this style throughout the disc I know I would like it a lot more. Keyboards also make a bit more of an appearance on ‘Bottle Of Shadows’ lurking in the background and the melody here is pretty strong.
‘Age Of Corruption’ promises but does not quite deliver yet. GraVil could well go on and up the ante in the future though. I cannot see anything about them having played live or any forthcoming dates and this is another area they are going to have to think about before releasing an album, even cartoon bands need to play live. Still an interesting release and a band I will be looking out for further developments from in the future.
http://www.myspace.com/gravil
