Grief Ritual-Life is a Phase EP review

Grief Ritual-Life is a Phase EP review.

This writer loves a great dark and brooding band that offers fucked-up sounds and is a challenging listen. Anything that is dissonant and on the fringe is a great thing. Grief Ritual, an absolute solid blackened hardcore band from South West England really deliver the goods with this 5 track classic release.



FFO: Converge, Dragged into Sunlight and Cursed.
The vocals are shouty and angry and the guitar magic weaves a web of both intrigue and head thrashing greatness. Opener Recidivist really sets the dark embrace of this release; raw, yet subtle buildups and audio plummets that keep you on your toes; I mean who doesn't love a great WTF? moment in music. The darkness just builds even more as we shift into the epicness of second track, Paroxysm. Whatever radioactive and psychoactive substance is flowing in the water in the U.K.; I dig it-because similarily like Dragged into Sunlight; any calming hugs quickly descends into psychotic madness. But in a real calculated structure. This is so impressive. The third grenade launched by the band is the torturous glory called Apatheism. In 1:22 minutes it does more than most bands do in a career to convince you how skilled the band is, deadset brilliance. Extant lineups up next, like a fucking Exocet missile, again showcasing how proficient this band is. This perfectly matches the nastiness of Converge with Cursed demented like wailings. Hardcore most definitely underpins this unit; riffwise we most certainly have some definitive metal leanings, but hardcore dominates the main steering wheel and that’s a winner for me. I also detect some crust punk/hardcore influence as well; this just adds to the embracing agitation presented here. Syncope closes the EP and this was the real surprise as there was a phenomenal groove element to this track; something legends like Napalm Death do so well. Combine this with some brief almost ambient singing and a military-style crescendo and you have a perfect EP in my opinion. Stunning work !!!.

Grab a copy asap from here:

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