Grusom

Grusom

Written by: BV on 07/12/2015 21:48:27

What do you get when you take six guys from Svendborg and pair them up with filthy organ sounds, sinister lyrics and guitar riffs galore? You get Grusom, a peculiar entity in its own right with a name distinctly Danish yet with material written exclusively in English on this, their debut album. You’ll probably recognize the musical formula of the album at first listen, as the band has seemingly used one part Black Sabbath-inspired riffs, one part of the good ol’ blues and a final dash of that unmistakable organ that has provided so many grooves to the rock of the 70’s – the altar of which Grusom seemingly worship at. It’s not all retro though, as the band is on a mission to channel these influences and make themselves relevant in this year of 2015.

Opening with “First Sermon” you could argue that the style has been pinned down immediately. Peter Pørtner’s occult-sounding organ makes up most of the track’s soundscape – effectively making “First Sermon” a foreboding intro, accurately becoming a premonition of what’s to come. “Come Closer” follows immediately after and kicks the tempo into an entirely new spectrum as the track is primarily driven by a thunderous musical onslaught provided by Søren Olesen’s chugging bass, Jakob Kaae’s fiercely pounded drums and, well, the organ. - At this point you’ve probably guessed that the organ is a major component here.

Nicolaj Hoffmann Jul has got himself a mighty fine rock n’ roll voice, but it still seems to lack that certain grit that would make him downright fearsome and slightly dangerous to listen to. With the many musical parallels that can be drawn to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, it is almost a shame that the vocals never quite reach the same eerie peaks or something akin to those, as it almost certainly will leave some listeners with the feeling of missing something by sheer comparison – conscious or subconscious as that may be. On “No Gods” the voice is nearly there – as is the soundscape. In my opinion it is probably the highlight of Grusom’s self-titled debut because it channels all of their stylistic elements into a focused, slightly ominous and downright groovy track. Morbid hard-rock done right, as some would probably call it.

With a plethora of evocative riffs, great lyrics and in most cases delightfully organic soundscapes channeled into great songs like “Cold Stone”, “No Gods”, “Come Closer” and “Gruesome” you’d be right to wonder whether the album is all great or if there are actually any weak points present. The answer to that is tricky, to be honest. On “The Reaper”, for instance, both Dennis Warburg and Thomas Ulrik provide genuinely gritty guitar tones that will have you headbanging like a maniac in no time – but on the larger scale, the track is actually somewhat forgettable as it never quite gets stuck in your head like the dominant part of the album actually does. In that sense, you could argue that not all the songs are genuinely great tracks, but as far as debut albums go this is still a more than solid effort. My only regret is being so late with the review.

8

Download: Cold Stone, No Gods, Come Closer, Gruesome
For the fans of: Black Sabbath, Doublestone, Siena Root
Listen: Facebook

Release date 31.07.2015
Kozmik Artifactz


Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.