{"id":30198,"date":"2015-04-21T00:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=30198"},"modified":"2015-06-01T14:44:30","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T14:44:30","slug":"ep-review-grethor-cloaked-in-decay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-grethor-cloaked-in-decay\/","title":{"rendered":"GRETHOR – Cloaked In Decay EP (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRETHOR
Cloaked In Decay EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This has to be one of my favourite extreme metal releases this year so far, Cloaked In Decay<\/em> being the new six-track EP from this North Virginian quintet. I always admire bands who try to bring something new to the table, and Grethor is one of those intriguing groups with so much to offer within their sound. <\/p>\n

They formed in 2007, but so far have only released two demos (2008\u2019s Graethor<\/em> and 2009\u2019s Monody For Artemis<\/em>) and another EP (2013\u2019s Galaxia Infinitum<\/em>) previous to this. The line-up consists of vocalist Marcus Lawrence, guitarists Mike Lewis and Brian Frost, bassist Nick Rothe, and drummer Anthony Rouse.<\/p>\n

And so we come to this new slab of extreme metal, and it\u2019s one that delivers in so many aspects and remains refreshing throughout. First and foremost, Grethor\u2019s sound is a strange coming together of styles; the vocals exist as a black metal sort of yappy screech and at times veer into deathlier grunts, while the musical backdrop is a bewildering amalgamation of death, grind, black and thrash metal \u2013 the overall result being a complex hammering that keeps you guessing through its entirety. <\/p>\n

We get songs which begin in a somewhat harsh, icy fashion, only to drift into jarring bouts of speeds laced with devilish melody. Then the next minute we find ourselves being battered by a grinding, gruelling death metal barrage that slows into a murky, menacing traipse of chugging guitars and darker, rasping vocal incantations. But where the combo really surprises is with some of the jazzier, epileptic segments; bringing forward weird chord arrangements, blast-beat drums and maniacal vocal squawks which bring to mind the insanity created by John Zorn\u2019s Naked City. <\/p>\n

For the most part though, this EP is an extreme composition at the zanier end of the death metal spectrum, but with one foot very much in the avantgarde arena. The likes of \u2018Somnia Malum Infinitum\u2019 and \u2018Hemispheres Decaying\u2019 are both bewildering and yet infectious, possibly at times \u2013 musically anyway \u2013 hinting at that Gorguts diet of misshapen, unorthodox structures and jolting, spasmodic percussion. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s still time for fleshy riffage, however \u2013 as with \u2018Misery Of Ignorance\u2019 \u2013 while a track such as \u2018Organic Tomb\u2019 serves up a doomier climate with its dank guitar roll. Whatever cacophony emerges from guitar, bass and drum though, it\u2019s still no match for Lawrence\u2019s perplexing squeals, grunts and yaps which I find fit the music so well. <\/p>\n

Cloaked In Decay<\/em> is one of those records that will take several spins just to appreciate the technicality of it all, and then will take a further few spins just to get into each track. The jagged arrangements pulverise throughout and there\u2019s no out-running those complex percussive slam and cymbal hisses as Lawrence\u2019s vicious yowls slash at your back like a razor. <\/p>\n

Try to categorise however much you try, but Grethor refuse to sit comfortably in any genre you cough up. Instead, just sit back, relax and succumb to this vibrant, befuddling and above all vicious assault on the grey matter. Grethor… a name to look out for on the circuit.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GRETHORCloaked In Decay EP Self-released (2015)Rating: 8.5\/10 This has to be one of my favourite extreme metal releases this year so far, Cloaked In Decay being the new six-track EP from this North Virginian quintet. I always admire bands who try to bring something new to the table, and Grethor is one of those intriguing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-grethor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30198"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30204,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30198\/revisions\/30204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}