Release
date: January
17th
2020.
Label: Crazy
Sane Records.
Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Translucent
Blades –
Tracklisting
1.Helix
2.Orbital
Grace
3.Translucent
Blades
4.Husk
5.Electric
Eye
6.Holy
Grief
7.Antares
8.Reviver
Members
Sabine
Oberg – Bass
Jan
Oberg - Drums, Vocals
Additional
Guitars, Tin Whistle, Soundscapes
Review
Sludge/Doom/Stoner
Metal Duo – Grin – are back with their new album Translucent
Blades – and it continues their heavy down-tempo sound the band
created with their excellent debut album from a couple years back.
This album is perhaps way more psychedelic and sees the band more
comfortable with their heavy surroundings. Grin feel inspired by
bands such as Conan, Sleep and Ufomammut on this album but playing by
their own heavy rules for an uncompromising sound.
Opening
song – Helix – is the song with the heaviest vocals on the entire
album with it’s mix of harsh and despairing growls. Though it’s
the Psychedelic Post-Doom atmosphere the band weave into the mix that
instantly grabs your attention. It’s a heavy mix of Ufomammut based
Post-Rock, Doom, Sludge and Stoner based grooves that has a distorted
feel to it. This is quite an interesting song to open the album with.
As the vocals become cleaner and softer from this moment on. So
expect a softer vocal delivery for the rest of the album.
Second
song – Orbital Grace – has a more “way-out” there sound with
a trippy groove being the main focus of the entire song. The vocals
are excellent with an earthly style of their own. The music elevates
from Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with deft precision and allows
Grin to weave a magical and heavy sound of their own. The ambient
atmosphere can be quite intense in places but the music never feels
forced and the band play a highly interesting blend of Cosmic Spaced
Out Rock.
Third
song – Translucent Blades – carries on the trippy Psychedelic and
Spaced Out sounds with influences ranging from Conan, Sleep and Black
Sabbath being heard and felt within every fibre of this song. Though
it’s still Grin’s show and they prove they’re quite capable of
playing addictive space rock grooves of their own. The ambient based
atmosphere can be quite distorted in places but this allows the music
and vocals to blend effortlessly together. Though the vocals are the
best part of this song.
Fourth
song – Husk – is a more Post-Rock driven style of music with
distant vocal echoes slowly working their way to the front of the
action. The heavy grooves take time to appear and this is a
refreshing change of pace from Grin. As the music is more focused and
calmer. The vocals are excellent yet again but the highly atmospheric
music is what held my attention the most. The Post-Doom/Post-Metal
style delivery has a classic vintage feel to it whilst retaining a
modern sensibility.
Fifth
song – Electric Eye – allows Grin to experiment with their sound
yet again. The heavy bass is handled superbly well and one that
brings a more menacing style of music for Grin to play with. The
gloomy atmospherics is beautifully underplayed from start to finish.
The vocals are quite gloomy and can be distracting at times
especially when they move into more Drone based territory. The final
moments are taken up by a hybrid Drone/Doom based sound and perhaps
the most exciting part of the song.
The
final three songs of the album – Holy Grief, Antares and Reviver –
sees Grin perhaps play the heaviest and most exciting riffs on the
album with Holy Grief and Reviver being the best parts of the album.
Translucent
Blades can be quite a complex sounding album when you first listen to
this. As Grin have included a high volume of different ideas within
the albums short thirty-six-minute running time. Maybe the album
could have been on a little bit longer for the band to explore and
develop their sound even further.
However,
this is still an epic and even more thrilling record compared to
their debut album and one that allows Grin to enhance and grow their
reputation even further within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal
community.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Chris at Crazy Sane Records for the promo. Translucent Blades will
be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from Jan 17th
2020 via Crazy Sane Records.
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