Blood On The Face

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Review: GRENOUER “Blood On The Face ” 2013

Posted by Dylan Raine on January 12, 2014
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Blood On The FaceReview by Dylan Raine

Artist: GRENOUER
Album: Blood On The Face
Label: MAUSOLEUM RECORDS
Release Date(s): May 10th in Europe, and July 9th in North America.

Tracklist:
1. Intro: Thunder Phase
2. Blood On The Face
3. Sands Of Silence
4. Midday Show
5. Golden Years
6. Rejected
7. Fix Your Life / A Few Miles From Paradise
8. The Taste Of Misery
9. Brain Fever
10. See No Sun
11. Last Stop
12. All In The Suit That You Wear

Founded in 1992 by vocalist Andrey Ind and guitarist Alexander Motor, Grenouer signed with the legendary Mausoleum Records label late 2012. “Blood On The Face” (GRENOUER’s seventh album) was produced by Dualized & Eddy Cavazza (Mnemic), Anssi Kippo (Children Of Bodom) and Joonas Koto, this team – assisted by Grenouer themselves – forged the band’s outstanding musicianship into 12 mighty slabs of hard modern metal, expertly mastered by Mika Jussila at the Finnvox Studio.

Into the album from the inset you are introduced to extreme blasts of Korn-esq/(early)Pitchshifter melodies and obscurities, whilst maintaining a wonderful Opeth feel to it. The harmonies between the soundscapes and vocal effects are pleasantly attractive and take you on an interesting journey into the minds of GRENOUER and their dreams. Mixing up the sounds can be confusing in places but none-the-less the album has interesting points to take the listener on an expansive journey.

‘Golden Years’ has one of the “Familiar” opening lines which makes you feel like you’ve heard this before, yet keeps a unique touch to it. The mix of effects and ethereal sequences is really pleasing throughout.

As the album continues I found no real difference between the tracks and at times you can get lost in the album (good or bad). ‘Fix Your Life (A Few Miles From Paradise)’ is a good solid rock/metal track which keeps the album flowing but feels like everything else. It’s hard not to discredit the album as the band certainly are talented but I feel as a lot of the tracks are just repeating themselves, like that of ‘Brain Fever’ and ‘Last Stop’. The music would be great to relax to regardless of your day or on a long drive.

For fans of Ethereal Metal full of expressive soundscapes, impressive harmonies, and beautiful melodies! Let us not forget the raw, heavy, progressive full bodied sounds thrown at you from all directions.

Rrating 5/10

Lineup:

  • Motor – Guitars
  • Ind – Vocals
  • “Coroner” -Drums
  • “Buzzy” – Guitars
  • Danny – Drums

GRENOUER