{"id":95676,"date":"2022-09-23T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T23:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=95676"},"modified":"2022-09-28T16:10:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T15:10:17","slug":"ep-review-black-grail-viiii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-black-grail-viiii\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACK GRAIL – VIIII EP (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACK GRAIL
VIIII EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nIron Bonehead Productions (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Strap yourself in for a dark ride into the pitch black abyss of Chilean gloom. Black Grail are a Santiago-based band formed back in 2005 and have slowly crept up from the depths of the citadel and into our nightmares with what is most certainly their best release to-date.<\/p>\n

Call it black metal with sludgy tones if you will, call it doom-laden, call it whatever you like, but one thing is for sure, this is some utterly primitive, atmospheric and truly sinister metal that lays a thick blanket of blackness over the room.<\/p>\n

From the ritualistic chants of opening track \u2018Encarcelado y Condenado\u2019 with its ethereal summonings and stark layers, through to the closing chimes of \u2018 La Disoluci\u00f3n, Consumaci\u00f3n de la Ascesis\u2019 \u2013 which acts more as a suspenseful horror-cum-dark thriller soundtrack \u2013 this five-song EP just echoes with threatening, baleful tones.<\/p>\n

\u2018Reflexiones en Cicuta\u2019 is an ominous, distant and wicked black metal hail boasting grim yet melodious axe work and coated with satanic snarls and unorthodox solos in tandem with percussive blitz, while \u2018La Separaci\u00f3n, vista como Muerte\u2019 follows suit where again there\u2019s that feeling of encroaching dread and cosmic, ethereal horror as the track just plays out like some otherworldly spook tale instrumental before the lumbering doom of \u2018Transmigraci\u00f3n del Alma\u2019 comes slithering through the cracks, led by commanding, evil snares and a Tony Iommi-like blend of dramatic chords. Eventually the track transforms into a slick and nefarious black metal thrasher but never releases its grip of the listener\u2019s windpipe.<\/p>\n

Black Grail suffocates with its morose structures, forming a pitch-black temple of horror which drags you in and never lets go.<\/p>\n

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

BLACK GRAILVIIII EP Iron Bonehead Productions (2022)Rating: 8\/10 Strap yourself in for a dark ride into the pitch black abyss of Chilean gloom. Black Grail are a Santiago-based band formed back in 2005 and have slowly crept up from the depths of the citadel and into our nightmares with what is most certainly their best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5009],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-black-grail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676","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=95676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95677,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676\/revisions\/95677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}