Grief Ritual - Life is a Phase (EP) 2018 Review

Grief Ritual - Life is a Phase (EP) 2018 Review

Grief Ritual are a new-wave blackened hard-core band from South-West England who draw influence from bands Like Full of Hell and Conjurer. They are playing Bloodstock's metal to the masses this year, I wish them the best of luck and if they get through to play Bloodstock at the new blood stage, I will make an effort to catch their set.

Release date: 9th December 2018

Check out their Bandcamp, Facebook and YouTube
https://griefritualmusic.bandcamp.com/releases
https://m.facebook.com/griefritual
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRJVPMZ09rEn_lYn95m9LQA

I love the sound on this EP, there is a great mix of hard-core, grindcore and black metal influences. The guitars are heavy and pulverising one moment, next they are abrasive and jarring, other times they are clean mellow and slow. It's impressive to show so much sonic diversity in a 13 minute EP without sounding like a complete mess that lacks any direction . The drums are mixed well and beat their way to the front of the mix like on "Recidivist" to lead the song but on "Paroxysm" they take a step back and provide the rhythm whilst the guitars and bass take charge. The bass isn't always readily audible but does a fine job of providing girth and a fuller sound. The harsh hard-core like vocals suit the sound perfectly but on "Syncope" there is great vocal diversity between cleans and screams.

The EP wastes no time, opening with a raging hard-core riff with aggressive shouting vocals, the song switches tempos and textures with a very abrasive section midway through "Recidivist" which leads to a demolishing breakdown to finish the opening track.

"Paroxysm" transitions seamlessly with a clean guitar intro, reminiscent of Conjurer's slower sections. This builds up into a heavy, dissonant segment, accompanied by pounding drums and anger - riddled vocals, the song progresses to a slower section, before making way to the next aural assault on the release.

The blistering "Apotheism" is up next, opening with a grindcore style passage, which lasts just over 20 seconds before moving onto a more melodic segment before the fast section returns more viscous than before, however abruptly stops for the next song.

"Extant" enters with a bruising and heavy hitting riff with bleak and nihilistic vocals. The tempo then switches up with a harsh, grating section which switches back and forth between different tempos to make this the longest cut on the EP at 3:57.

The finisher "Syncope" erupts with a black metal style section, before progressing to their unique style of hardcore, switching between black metal and hardcore influences, this is interrupted by a chilling slow passage with mellow guitars and spoken lyrics. This is soon crushed by a huge breakdown which ends the EP.

Overall I give this EP a solid 8.5, this is an amazing debut debut that is aggressive, unique and with a great mix of black metal and hardcore/grindcore. However I feel this band has loads of potential that can't be fully expressed in a 13 minute EP, the release is far too short. I'm looking forward to more releases and I'll be keeping an eye out for them at Bloodstock.