Year: 2021
Total Time: 43:28
Label: Naturmacht Productions
GRIMA is an atmospheric Black Metal band from Russia, the intellectual child of Morbius and Vilhelm, both members of SECOND TO SUN and ULTAR. Their thematology is associated with themes of nature as well as issues related to paganism. Being very active since 2015 when they released their first album “Devotion To Lord”, they already have four complete albums under their belt, with the fourth “Rotten Garden” being available to the public just for a few days.
Although active for six years and known to those who are deeply involved with the genre they represent from their debut, they have actually reached the ears of a wider audience with their previous album, “Will Of The Primordial” of 2019, which essentially established them as an important band in the underground scene. GRIMA never had this so-called “true” sound in their music, they always had more careful productions than the average. But they brought out in their sound a brutality, which in combination with their themes, offered you wintery landscapes, taken out of the wild nature and its deities that they praise. Although this was the recipe for their third album, which brought them to a larger audience, this recipe does not seem to have been followed in “Rotten Garden”.
The atmosphere and the melodies that characterize them are there. Lyrically, they do not differ much. Aurally however, a change is evident. Although from their beginning the band was moving in the atmospheric sub-genre of Black Metal, now the atmosphere has a more dominant role. More ambient and experimental elements that are not found – at least not so strongly – in their previous works and a production that seems even more polished than in the past. In all this, the “pagan” element itself, though present, seems more domesticated, more passable and not as icy and savage as before.
Of course, all of the above does not mean that the album lacks in quality. It is a complete, very beautiful album with awesome moments and very nice music to offer. It may not be what their older fans would have expected but it shows an urgency of GRIMA to explore other paths, by doing so just as well as the one they have been moving so far. A new journey for the Russian duo seems to begin with their new album, which if listened independently and not comparatively due to its different approach, it will compensate you by rediscovering equally interesting aspects of their unique soundscapes.
Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Fanouris Exintavelonis
Related Link: GRIMA – Bandcamp Page
