| GRENDEL - DRAGON'S AWAKENING CD |
Italy's masters of Epic Black Metal return with the follow-up to their highly touted "Beowulf" debut. Featuring
a collection of some of the most blazing Black Metal to be unleashed upon the ears of the underground for
some time yet containing an Epic quality lost on the new age of basement black metal clones. Definitely
something that anyone who worshiped at the altars of the likes of Nachtfalke, classic Stormblast-era Dimmu,
and Shadowthrone-era Satyricon should be setting their sites on. Not to be missed!
WEB: www.myspace.com/trona1980
a collection of some of the most blazing Black Metal to be unleashed upon the ears of the underground for
some time yet containing an Epic quality lost on the new age of basement black metal clones. Definitely
something that anyone who worshiped at the altars of the likes of Nachtfalke, classic Stormblast-era Dimmu,
and Shadowthrone-era Satyricon should be setting their sites on. Not to be missed!
WEB: www.myspace.com/trona1980
| MEDIA |
| REVIEWS |
I ran across this band's debut Beowulf some years ago and really liked it. Despite that another BM band about
Beowulf should be so cliché as to become almost retro, I found it a fresh and engaging album, bursting with
talent and melodic flair. Thus I was more than happy to be offered their follow-up, the long-awaited Dragon's
Awakening.
Less abrasive and more melodic than Beowulf, Grendel's new album has managed the feat of taking their style
from that album and refining and polishing it to produce a more unified sound. This is still aggressive Black
Metal with a lot of energy and guitar-shredding ferocity, but they have managed to fuse the melodic dash of
the leadwork directly into the riffs, resulting in slashing barrages of tight and complex, but still intensely
melodic and hooky riffs. The guitar sound is less raw this time, but the keen tone gives much more play to
the melodic underpinnings and two-guitar interweavings of the riffwork. There is always so much more
going on in the music here than it seems at first spin. As before, vocals alternate between harsh and clean.
The harsh vocals are lower mixed and less venomous this time, which integrates them into the whole more
smoothly, and as before the trade-offs between the rasps and cleanly-sung parts are very deft and serve a
songwriting purpose, rather than seeming arbitrary and forced.
This is reminiscent of a lot of underground Folk/Viking bands without sounding too much like any of them. If
I had to compare this band to anyone, it would be Berserk or a more aggressive Forefather, maybe
Suidakra, but that only scratches the surface, as Grendel are really doing their own thing and doing it really
well. This is a superior disc of melodic but still fierce Viking Metal that I cannot stop spinning, because every
time I hear something I didn't hear before. One of the year's best.
MetalCrypt.com - Sargon the Terrible
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grendel released an album back in 2005, and for five years I thought I’d never get to hear another glorious
release by these guys. Their hybrid of black and viking metal with touches of genuine medieval charm was
too good to be true, and the vocals by Sir Mordred were out of this world. The riffs on the debut scorched
the shit out of me with their serrated distortion while still being very melodic and epic. Now five years later,
Mordred isn’t in the band anymore (a band that he started), yet the remaining members have carried on the
name and recorded a follow-up that, while not like the original, still manages to show the band’s development
and wisdom. In short, I can say that this is a pretty good sophomore effort.
Grendel’s first album, Beowulf, was a legitimate brand of viking / black metal thanks to Mordred’s shredded
shrieks and valiant cleans, the mix of buoyant epicness and diabolical riffs, and the authentic atmosphere
devoid of fakeness. This second one loses Mordred, and in the process becomes more typical with standard
black metal, but not without keeping much of the other characteristics. After all, the two members present on
this album played on the debut, but now Chainerdog’s doing vocals and he’s alright. He does brutish, hoarse
screams instead of shrieks and his cleans are a little stale but stout; not many songs include the clean vocals.
Production is better than last time in that there’s more intensity and exertion. The debut was clean and cool,
but cold and a little empty between songs. This one’s warm, cozy, and full of livid riffs, tunes, melodies, and a
deeper theme of valor. The thickness of every instrument is one to behold, and for two members it feels like a
big endeavor putting all these songs together. The bass grumbles fervently along the rhythm, and sometimes
it sounds like a cavernous, electronic, pulsating boom like on “Death Prophecy.” Drums are a bit clicky with
the double bass, and you can’t escape it because it is used a ton on this album. Much of the drumming is fast
pummeling, blast beats, snare / cymbal assaults, the works. The rest of the kit is nice and crisp though, so it
doesn’t wear thin on me.
What keep the songs alive above all else are the riffs, as always with metal music worth more than a dollar.
With the debut, the riffs were upfront, in your face, and as deadly as a running chainsaw. Here, the riffs are
toned down but mature and with a purpose of layering as well as leading the charge. The leads from
Chainerdog do not let up at all, with the best material comprising the latter half of the album. The tone of
Dragon’s Awakening isn’t as fun-loving and ideal as the debut, so more emotions run through this one
realistically. The variety between songs is decent, but the middle of the album isn’t particularly memorable. I
know acoustics and clean sections pop up now and then, but more songs mean more to work with, and I’m
not getting enough from a couple of tracks like I do with the beginning and end of the album (not including
the ambient intro and outro tracks).
However, once this band does nail the right shit down, they do it so that no one else can contend. The album
starts off on a damn good note with “On The Throne,” but it can’t touch “Beowulf Funeral Pyre.” This latter
song was spoiled for the fans because the band featured it as a teaser ahead of the album’s release, so we got
to hear not only the best song on the album, but arguably Grendel’s best song period. Everything from the
(Hammerheart) Bathory-influenced opener, to the wave crushing riffs, to the atmosphere, to Chainerdog’s
nasty barks and somber clean cries, and to those solos… god damn, the solo at the beginning and the solos
closing… it’s the best this band has to offer. Nothing can beat them, and they mark the highest points on the
album with their alacrity and harmonies.
This album, although closer to regular black metal, manages to stay fresh while in a genre that has a good
number of fusty bands to compete against. Chainerdog isn’t as competent of a vocalist as Mordred, but he
does a decent job maintain vocals to fit the music. Dragon’s Awakening sounds and feels like a full album,
while the debut, although magnificent, felt empty at the core. Overall, the songs here may run together in the
middle depending on how you hear things, while the debut didn’t exactly have that issue, so it’s a split you’ll
have to think about. That or you could just obtain both albums and get the best of both worlds. The two
don’t sound very alike, yet they carry the same fire of Grendel. Man, if they had Mordred for this, it’d be one
remarkable piece of art.
Metal-Archives.com - OzzyApu
Beowulf should be so cliché as to become almost retro, I found it a fresh and engaging album, bursting with
talent and melodic flair. Thus I was more than happy to be offered their follow-up, the long-awaited Dragon's
Awakening.
Less abrasive and more melodic than Beowulf, Grendel's new album has managed the feat of taking their style
from that album and refining and polishing it to produce a more unified sound. This is still aggressive Black
Metal with a lot of energy and guitar-shredding ferocity, but they have managed to fuse the melodic dash of
the leadwork directly into the riffs, resulting in slashing barrages of tight and complex, but still intensely
melodic and hooky riffs. The guitar sound is less raw this time, but the keen tone gives much more play to
the melodic underpinnings and two-guitar interweavings of the riffwork. There is always so much more
going on in the music here than it seems at first spin. As before, vocals alternate between harsh and clean.
The harsh vocals are lower mixed and less venomous this time, which integrates them into the whole more
smoothly, and as before the trade-offs between the rasps and cleanly-sung parts are very deft and serve a
songwriting purpose, rather than seeming arbitrary and forced.
This is reminiscent of a lot of underground Folk/Viking bands without sounding too much like any of them. If
I had to compare this band to anyone, it would be Berserk or a more aggressive Forefather, maybe
Suidakra, but that only scratches the surface, as Grendel are really doing their own thing and doing it really
well. This is a superior disc of melodic but still fierce Viking Metal that I cannot stop spinning, because every
time I hear something I didn't hear before. One of the year's best.
MetalCrypt.com - Sargon the Terrible
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grendel released an album back in 2005, and for five years I thought I’d never get to hear another glorious
release by these guys. Their hybrid of black and viking metal with touches of genuine medieval charm was
too good to be true, and the vocals by Sir Mordred were out of this world. The riffs on the debut scorched
the shit out of me with their serrated distortion while still being very melodic and epic. Now five years later,
Mordred isn’t in the band anymore (a band that he started), yet the remaining members have carried on the
name and recorded a follow-up that, while not like the original, still manages to show the band’s development
and wisdom. In short, I can say that this is a pretty good sophomore effort.
Grendel’s first album, Beowulf, was a legitimate brand of viking / black metal thanks to Mordred’s shredded
shrieks and valiant cleans, the mix of buoyant epicness and diabolical riffs, and the authentic atmosphere
devoid of fakeness. This second one loses Mordred, and in the process becomes more typical with standard
black metal, but not without keeping much of the other characteristics. After all, the two members present on
this album played on the debut, but now Chainerdog’s doing vocals and he’s alright. He does brutish, hoarse
screams instead of shrieks and his cleans are a little stale but stout; not many songs include the clean vocals.
Production is better than last time in that there’s more intensity and exertion. The debut was clean and cool,
but cold and a little empty between songs. This one’s warm, cozy, and full of livid riffs, tunes, melodies, and a
deeper theme of valor. The thickness of every instrument is one to behold, and for two members it feels like a
big endeavor putting all these songs together. The bass grumbles fervently along the rhythm, and sometimes
it sounds like a cavernous, electronic, pulsating boom like on “Death Prophecy.” Drums are a bit clicky with
the double bass, and you can’t escape it because it is used a ton on this album. Much of the drumming is fast
pummeling, blast beats, snare / cymbal assaults, the works. The rest of the kit is nice and crisp though, so it
doesn’t wear thin on me.
What keep the songs alive above all else are the riffs, as always with metal music worth more than a dollar.
With the debut, the riffs were upfront, in your face, and as deadly as a running chainsaw. Here, the riffs are
toned down but mature and with a purpose of layering as well as leading the charge. The leads from
Chainerdog do not let up at all, with the best material comprising the latter half of the album. The tone of
Dragon’s Awakening isn’t as fun-loving and ideal as the debut, so more emotions run through this one
realistically. The variety between songs is decent, but the middle of the album isn’t particularly memorable. I
know acoustics and clean sections pop up now and then, but more songs mean more to work with, and I’m
not getting enough from a couple of tracks like I do with the beginning and end of the album (not including
the ambient intro and outro tracks).
However, once this band does nail the right shit down, they do it so that no one else can contend. The album
starts off on a damn good note with “On The Throne,” but it can’t touch “Beowulf Funeral Pyre.” This latter
song was spoiled for the fans because the band featured it as a teaser ahead of the album’s release, so we got
to hear not only the best song on the album, but arguably Grendel’s best song period. Everything from the
(Hammerheart) Bathory-influenced opener, to the wave crushing riffs, to the atmosphere, to Chainerdog’s
nasty barks and somber clean cries, and to those solos… god damn, the solo at the beginning and the solos
closing… it’s the best this band has to offer. Nothing can beat them, and they mark the highest points on the
album with their alacrity and harmonies.
This album, although closer to regular black metal, manages to stay fresh while in a genre that has a good
number of fusty bands to compete against. Chainerdog isn’t as competent of a vocalist as Mordred, but he
does a decent job maintain vocals to fit the music. Dragon’s Awakening sounds and feels like a full album,
while the debut, although magnificent, felt empty at the core. Overall, the songs here may run together in the
middle depending on how you hear things, while the debut didn’t exactly have that issue, so it’s a split you’ll
have to think about. That or you could just obtain both albums and get the best of both worlds. The two
don’t sound very alike, yet they carry the same fire of Grendel. Man, if they had Mordred for this, it’d be one
remarkable piece of art.
Metal-Archives.com - OzzyApu
Tracklisting:
1. Legacy
2. On The Throne
3. Sepulchral Treasure
4. The Dragon Awakes
5. Death Prophecy
6. The End is Near
7. Beowulf Funeral Pyre
8. Bad Days are Coming
9. Epitaph
1. Legacy
2. On The Throne
3. Sepulchral Treasure
4. The Dragon Awakes
5. Death Prophecy
6. The End is Near
7. Beowulf Funeral Pyre
8. Bad Days are Coming
9. Epitaph
