Grievance - The Phantom Novels (1999)

This is a bit of an old album (12 years!) but I don’t believe age really takes anything away from it. It’s fast passed, melodic, and dark all at once; it’s an uncommon mix, and I think it unfortunate that there hasn’t been much experimentation in it since.

Though there’ve been other melodic death metal bands who have drawn influences from darker metal, like Insomnium who draw from doom metal, there has been very little – if any - in the way of a pure fusion of black metal and melodeath. Think the dark feel of Amorphis and the melodic energy of In Flames, but in the dead of Norwegian winter, and you’ll get an idea of what to expect with Grievance.

Through the fusion of these genres, Grievance manage to make what is clearly melancholy music but do it with an energetic rhythm: You’ll be able to head bang along while feeling the pain in the music at the same time. The amazing thing is that it really, really works; and they somehow make it cool. Bordering on catchy, in fact!

Grievance seem to have found the right kind of level of heaviness for the record. The drums are the loudest instrument, and the guitar seems to me a little repressed, except for the occasional riff that is accentuated. There is a heavy emphasis on the orchestral synths that go with the territory of the genre. While I would personally have liked a little more guitar, it’s not a bad mix.

Because I got this record so long after it came out, it’s hard to find anything out about them. They were signed to reputable Norwegian label Hear Not Found, and worked with members of In Flames, but there is very little else to yield. I don’t think they had any real commercial success, (though gladly this is not usually the aim of black metal artists.) It’s a testament to the quality of their music, however, that it still sounds good and fresh 12 years after its release, and I’m sure I’ll still be listening to it another 12 years from now!



8/10

1. Origin in Vain
2. Angels Succumb
3. Atrocity Upon Deceptions
4. The Mask Of Sin
5. A Devil's Rhyme
6. Crabbing Path
7. The Phantom Novels



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Make Them Suffer - Lord of Woe EP (2010)

Deathcore and Black Metal are two genres I’ve wanted to experiment with myself for a while. That was until I found this: 'Make Them Suffer' have gone and done it for me already! I’m sure they’re not the only one to have done so, but it’s still a relative novelty to me I’m afraid, and I kinda like it!

They describe themselves as ‘symphonic death metal’, which would put them in the same bracket as the likes of ‘Cradle of Filth’ and ‘Dimmu Borgir’, where I believe they don’t entirely belong. To me this is more the psychopathic love child of ‘Abigail Williams’ and ‘Whitechapel’, and to my great satisfaction, the combination works.

I’ve already stated my general distaste for bland and predictable deathcore, and while the deathcore influence in 'Lord Of Woe' does come awfully close to that dreary unoriginality, it is – for me at least - completely counteracted by the more innovative symphonic black metal fused into it. In fact, it’s enough to make the breakdowns sound better!

               

I think it’s easy to tell that Make Them Suffer are not trying to replicate ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’, and so criticising them on failing to do so is significantly pointless. But denying that it is black metal is equally idiotic. For normal black metal fans who don’t regularly feel  the urge to burn churches and kill your band mates, this offers something fresh to have a bit of fun to. To some metal fans this may show that just because a band plays breakdowns doesn’t instantly make them ‘emo scum’ or some fail like that.

I know what these guys are doing isn’t so innovative that it needs a patent or something: War From A Harlots Mouth have black metal influences, Winds of Plague have symphonic influences, and it can easily be argued that Abigail Williams have been impacted by the hardcore / deathcore scene. However from what I’ve seen this is the purest blend between the genres. It’s done well, and to make it even better: They’re still unsigned.

They’ve got a way to go until it’s really ‘hitting the spot’, but this EP is certainly a good listen for deathcore and black metal fans alike.

6/10

1. Summoning Storms
2. Lord of Woe
3. The Eternal Cold
4. Affliction of the Dead
5. Weeping Wastelands


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