Gloomy Grim - "Fuck the World, War is War!" (Symbol of Domination/Murdher Records, 2017)

Band: Gloomy Grim
Title: Fuck the World, War is War!
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal with Goth and Horror Metal elements
Year: 24th June 2017
Time: 33 min
Rating: 56/100












Compilation of old songs taken from their first two demos ("Fuck the World, Kill the Jehova" of 1996 and "Friendship is Friendship, War is War" of 1997) for the Finnish band Gloomy Grim, that I didn't know before this CD. They were started in 1995 as a one-man band of Agathon, that was already a veteran of the Finnish metal scene when he founded this new project. In fact, it's remarkable its past militancy in bands like Airdash (one of the most relevant '80s thrash metal acts from Finland) and Corporal Punishment (early '90s death metal), so I can say that he went through all the main phases in the extreme metal history, black metal included because of his Gloomy Grim, that, if I say right, became a full line-up band (but without the drummer) in occasion of their second demo.

Released by Symbol of Domination along with Murdher Records, "Fuck the World, War is War!", despite its incendiary title, doesn't show a super-aggressive slab of black metal. In fact, these 7 tracks (+ the outro of the first demo) show, instead, a sort of symphonic black metal with some goth elements. The pace of the songs is so focused on the mid/slow tempos that don't expect any kind of fast parts throughout the compilation. The keyboards and the synths are so incredibly fundamental to fill the songs with many symphonic details, giving also to the music decadent and even horror tunes with the result that the sound isn't so crude and energetic since the guitars are often in the background. And you have to count that some melodies are very strange to hear into EVERY pure black metal band, as listenable during "Blood". In brief, the only regular thing comes from the luciferian screams of Agathon, that is supported, from time to time during the second demo, by the "angelic" vocals of Whisper Lilith in a way very close to the gothic metal standards (in fact, today both Agathon and Whisper Lilith together plays also in a gothic/black metal band called Soulgrind).

So, I appreciate the efforts to create something strange but the final result isn't really convincing to me. The problem is that these songs are too soft, too melodic and not so intense for my musical tastes, also because the drum-machine makes a bit flat the entire discourse. I think I never heard a softer black metal band than the early Gloomy Grim, it's like to listen to a very melodic mix between Death SS, Mactatus and Cradle of Filth but, maybe, the definition of "Horror Metal" chosen by the same band, considering some atmospheres recreated by them, is more correct than "Black Metal". I have still to understand the real line-up of the first demo but, anyway, now they have been preparing their 7th album (if I say correctly, 4 songs are ready) while they'll play at the new edition of Tuska Open Air on 29th June 2018.

Note:

in according to Metal-Archives, the first song "Temple of Agathon" is an instrumental. It's wrong because, in this compilation, you'll find the version with vocals of this track.

Tracklist:

1 - Temple of Agathon
2 - Written in Blood
3 - Pope of the Black Arts
4 - Asylum
5 - Outro
6 - War/Ashes
7 - Blood
8 - Reign

Line-up:

Agathon Frosteus - vocals/drum-machine/keyboards
Whisper Lilith - vocals
Mörgoth - guitars
Torso - bass

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/AgathonTheBeast
BandCamp: https://gloomygrim.bandcamp.com/
Symbol of Domination: http://satanath.com/sodp
Murdher Records: http://murdherrecords.wix.com/murdherrecords