Grimah - Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom (2020)^{Release ID: 15479}

This is the debut album from Grimah, a black metal band hailing from Spain. And I do want to be a little more favorable towards this initial project because I can hear plenty of potential on display, even if it doesn't live up to the expectations.

For one, this album sounds really damn great! The guitar work is luscious and downright breathtaking at times. These songs have a tendency to fall into the melodic black metal side of things and can even border on the fringes of atmospheric black metal near the end. The bass lines are not flawless and they do tend to bow out more frequently than one would expect.

The vocalist needs work. Kellicos sounds like he's performing through a cold and is unable to hold many of his notes for extended periods of time without cracking. I think that this is the part that needs refinement. Think about what the faux spoken word delivery of a Rotting Christ album could sound like. It doesn't even have to be changing the vocal style all that much. It would only improve the performances that much more!

The songwriting is commendable, even if it does get a tad bit boring during the middle of the album. I really enjoyed the opener, "Blaze Against Grime", but then "Thus Spake The Stone" and "Veiled By Blossom's Essence" both sound like they not only treading water, but are also extended in their length. It wasn't until the next track "Façade of Futile Reflections" delivered a quasi doom metal extended intro that carried into the more expected black metal stuff. While the closer "Pénudo de Agonía y Desdén" is pure ABM bliss. It sounds unique for the record and warrants its ten minute runtime.

This album has plenty of flaws, but I can look over them for now in hopes that they can be reconciled on further releases. I hope that Grimah is a name that we hear about in metal for years to come.

This is the debut album from spanish black metal trio Grimah, featuring five tracks and a brief intro spanning 43 minutes. Thematically it's dense lyrics deal with nihilism and existential acceptance. Musically it takes the form of aggressive, yet fairly melodic black metal that verges on atmo-black at times (closer Péndulo de Agonía y Desdén for example). The vocals are atypical for a lot of black metal, being less shrieking screams and more like vicious barks. It is energetic and quite exhilharating, considering the subject matter and I'm interested to see where these guys go from here.