Grieve - Funeral • GRIMM Gent

Grieve – Funeral

07/02/2022

Finnish black metal outfit Grieve is another band that features V-Khaoz of Vargrav. The band was crafted by Werwolf (The True Werwolf and Satanic Warmaster) in 2019 with the duo offering an honest insight into primitive black metal. “Funeral” is based on the raw style of the early nineties where the music reveled in harsh and cold tremolo riffing. Sticking to their blazing guns and the classic template with its rattling drums expanding on Norwegian old school precisely. The album will mostly grab those who are into bands like Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, and early Mayhem.

Opening track “Lethal Wind of Destruction” focuses on dark tremolos where the songwriting grasps the rudiments of raw black metal. The simple and traditional riffing structure and blast beats are firmly displayed. “Winter of Torment” then begins with the tremolo rhythm building at minimal melody and there is a clear emphasis on the bass guitar especially in the slower moments. The associated members offer a great tribute to the second wave of black metal and you can simply perceive the old ways of old school methods jetting across the songs. The raw presentation is brought by high standards and it makes me wonder how V-Khaoz and Werwolf utilize their experience in creating all these side projects with such intensity and passion.

The guitars emit some cold tremolo riffs and they’re so damned catchy being the backbone of the composition. The drum patterns provide some insane energy on “Possessed…”. Speaking of the distortion arrangements, the guitars set a dark atmospheric feel with all the raw dynamics and cold riffing, adding an old-school touch to the music. “Funeral” is a straightforward album full of abrasive riffs that are perfectly applied to create dark Necro themes. The album stands out for the craftsmanship and the instrumentation, in general, the harsh growls are applied to give a raw sound. There are a lot of vibes to the traditional school of Norwegian style and the melodic undertone flows perfectly. What really caught my attention to Grieve’s first and final album is the black and white cover art. In my opinion, the music complements the grim album cover, each track follows a certain diversity reflecting on the songwriting skills.

For example “Nocturnal Cries” begins with a basic guitar note calculated by the slower tempo, then the guitars apply the right atmosphere where dark rhythm wafts along with sharp tremolos. The bass guitar provides a beautiful canvas for abrasive riffing, there is a great talent to achieve multiple sounds within the old school scale. “Funeral” features seven tracks spanning under thirty minutes, the songs highlight the breakdown of the drum pacing. Other songs like “Requiem of Mankind” draw influences from the likes of Darkthrone, these four minutes of the track offer sepulchral melodies tonal rhythm guitars the vocals here are quite powerful, and painful.

The drums have the ability to blast out with the thick guitar riffs, bringing some wonderful memories from Darkthrone’s “Transylvanian Hunger”. Humming bass drums add quality to the overall performance and there are plenty of blasting sections. “Helvetin Valtaistuin” takes a more punk and up-tempo mode, with the drums and fuzzy guitars well played, especially the bass guitar chords sound crunchy and fucking filthy!!! Despite the modest approach, the duo deploys old-school grooves and fast tremolo riffs, the songs are crafted in a way to have rough transitions between the tempos. Closing with an instrumental track, “Funeral Path” relies solely on the instrumentation, the simple chord riffing is joined by atmospheric keyboards applied to add some dark quality.

In my opinion, the only minor thing of the album is that there aren’t more songs… While the album is really of high quality, this feels like merely a tribute album to old-school black metal, nothing more and nothing else. Grieve is probably listed in the book of necrology but I doubt if anyone would remember the band after listening to this album.