Release Date: April 07th 2023. Record Label: The Lasting Dose Records. Formats: CD/DD
Black Nothingness: Tracklisting
1.Nothingness
2.Gatekeeper
3.Midnight Blue Sorrow
4.The Tempest Of Time
5.Talons
6.Deathbringers
Members
S. Oberg – Bass Guitar
J. Oberg – Drums, Vocals
Review
Psych Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal Duo GRIN return with their new EP Black Nothingness. Coming almost six months after their acclaimed last album Phantom Knocks. This EP feels like it’s from a different band as GRIN ventures into heavier and more violent Sludge Metal environments with the sound being more Crust Punk and Black Metal compared to their last release.
The music is faster, abrasive and more chaotic with GRIN operating with their own Crust Metal environments. The Psychedelic grooves are more bass heavy with a blackened sludgy drive which you can hear, feel and fully experience on the excellent two opening tracks of Nothingness and Gatekeeper. Though, GRIN still play their trademark Psychedelic and Spaced Out sounds, though perhaps kept more in the background of the more crushing music currently taking its place.
This EP also lasts under thirteen minutes but GRIN delivers a lot of bone-crunching moments within this short time. Everything is more concise with flashes of SONIC EXPERIMENTATION being more direct. Maybe the music isn’t melodic as it should be and the vocals are downright nasty in places. However, there’s a great style of heaviness that we haven’t heard from GRIN before. The music is more modern day based with perhaps a mid 2010’s Blackened Doom/Sludge Metal flavour holding everything together.
If you like your music down-tuned and bleak distortion then GRIN are perhaps influenced by bands such as CONAN and EYEHATEGOD on this EP. This is still essentially a GRIN release but given a more extreme makeover and I’ll applaud the band for doing something different.
The production values are more raw-sounding as well that puts the listener at the forefront of the action. Black Nothingness does sound superbly heavy from start to finish and you can tell that is Jan’s (GRIN’s Lead Vocalist and Drummer) handiwork throughout.
Black Nothingness is an EP that offers the listener a release with BITE and a VICIOUS outlook within the Doom/Sludge Metal scene. This is another sublime release from one of the best creative teams within the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal underground scenes.
Words by Steve Howe.
Thanks to Jan at The Lasting Dose Records for the promo.
Black Nothingness is available to buy on CD/DD from The Lasting Dose Records on April 07th 2023.
Links
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