Beats and yelling: Grievance

Lúgubres Devaneios De Abismos E Sombras
Out 5^th May on Haloran Records

Portugal’s Grievance have long been a holdout of authentic second wave black metal most obviously cut from the cloth of – but never limited to – early Burzum. Here we see them pivot in a more depressive direction, but one digested through an idiosyncratic filter. Depressive in terms of contouring at least, the tempos have slowed since their last effort, the riffs adopting a droning if not defeatist demeanour, and the vocals lean into the high emotionalism associated with this wing of the black metal complex. But there is still plenty of room for the riffs to wander into a triumphalist mindset, as the swirling repetition gradually solidifies into moments of bright clarity, a struggle overcome. This is achieved by Grievance’s strict commitment to developing a distinctive melodic palette, one that is carried throughout the entire album in longform.

The production holds few surprises for anyone familiar with this outfit, or indeed any black metal flying in the wake of the Nordic second wave. Harsh but not raw, drums are delivered in their most unclarified state, direct and immediate. The wash of guitars finds a balance between the need to fill out the atmospheric currents of the album whilst retaining enough clarity to focus the listener’s attention on the development of narrative threads. Vocals veer from standard high end wailing to cleaner bursts of melodramatic energy at intervals just sparse enough to avoid becoming overwrought. The rest of the mix is left open and ambiguous, with no additional keyboards or spaced out lead material to open out the mix in any way. This speaks of a single minded project, one intent on funnelling any and all interpretations down the specific path taken by the interplay of riffs and their incremental evolutions across each track. In the absence of any further distraction, we are forced to imbibe the material neat.

What makes Grievance unique, despite their rather typical surface level demeanour, is their ability to develop moods with a patient gradualism. There is no sudden burst of contrast, dramatic conflict, or colliding molecules competing to wrest the momentum of each track. Instead we get a constant stream of linear information, each moment informing the next. But when beholding the journey at the macro level, the distance from beginning to end is striking. Simple interweaving guitar lines engage in an elegant, conversational ballet. With drums inserting themselves seamlessly beneath to gently raise and lower the stakes through subtle blast-beat shifts or crash cymbal emphasis.

The move from the dispassionate naturalism of earlier material to this more emotively strained beast may be received as a disappointing one at first, at least for any long time followers of this artist. But on closer scrutiny the volte-face appears to have paid off. Grievance have developed that rare thing in contemporary metal, a riff signature all their own. One that requires very little in the way of aesthetic adornment to bring to life. The overlapping conversational threads of each piece fit together with such ponderous grace that drawing appropriate equivalences proves challenging. A prima facie run of the mill black metal outing reveals a unique soundworld of sharp storytelling and meticulously painted compositional development.