Seven songs about nothing but ugliness, abuse, death, pain, loathing, and the harshness of life. All put to metal music that simply is incredible. The music is slow, extremely heavy, Black Sabbath-like, and full of that ol’ doom and gloom. How can music that’s so slow be so heavy and even melodic? I mean, there’s slow industrial music that sounds like a machine shop running at 1% capacity, yet Grief have managed to amplify the heaviness such that the sheer, pounding rhythm is hypnotic and mind-blowing.
“I Hate Lucy,” “Polluted,” and “Amorphous” all have this utter, well, Grief to them, like a man experiencing a constant pain he never will get used to. “Amorphous” has to be the most depressing song of the year: “Amorphous… / when nothing matters/ There is no matter to me… There’s no solidity… “ “To Serve and Neglect” appears to be a call to arms against the useless birth and horrible, yet quick, death of children to crack-addicted mothers. The inhumane treatment of these innocent children is described in detail…
What Grief is able to do with such long, droning metal is clearly taking metal to new heights (or should that be depths?). They’ve captured yet an even more harrowing picture of the torture of life and it’s almost beautiful. Pessimiser Records, P.O. Box 1070, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
