jewel tape case with a full body printed cassette and a 2 sides printed tape cover containing lyrics
Mount Pearl death metal outfit GRENADIER are one of the newest extreme metal groups to emerge from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. While releasing their first full-length album, GRENADIER are easily pushing the standards of melodic death metal to a higher level. “Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory” grants you with tons of groovy riffs, epic vocals and blasting drums. So load your musket, grab your sword, run into the battle and get ready for a devastating charge !
Grenadier is a Canadian melodic death metal band that comes from a line of clones for the infamous Arghoslent. They released a demo back in 2021 before releasing their first studio album a year later titled "Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory". Though this record does go for a more straightforward approach to the Arghoslent sound, I think the way it's executed might actually be better than the original.
The album cuts straight to the chase in the first track "Atrocity Cycle", with its harsh, yet melodic guitar riffs blaring throughout the track. The riffs do feel highly influenced from Arghoslent's "Incorrigible Bigotry" and especially "Hornets of the Pogrom" given the folk-influences and rather harsh moments. However, the riffs have more melodic undertones compared to their original counterparts, which not only sound great, but I'd argue that these melodic riffs sound better than those on Arghoslent since they aren't overtaken by the harsher riffs and stand out better. The drumming is also really good, as with a diverse amount of beat patterns and intense pounding, the drums flow well within the war-like atmosphere. Even the bass is great, with its deep, groovy bass play providing an excellent foundation as well as flowing nicely with the guitars. While the track does have its fair share of deep and harsh moments, it's the more melodic and upbeat moments that make this song, alongside the rest, truly shine. Besides the opening track, "Commending the Imperial", "The Napoleonic Code", and "Plight of the Naath" are my personal favorites, with the closing track in particular having a beautiful riff in the middle section that plays an atmospheric riff that feels mesmerizing. Not only do the instruments get the Arghoslent songwriting, but it also includes more melodic elements that improve the formula a lot.
The vocals are also fantastic. Adam Sharr of Nocturnal Prayer does the vocals on here, and they're really good. Compared to the high-pitched shrieks from Nocturnal Prayer, Adam goes for some deep growls with the occasional shriek. A good example is in the shortest track "Storm Attrition". With the melodic riffs, Adam contrasts the triumphant riffs well with his deep growls, and on top of flowing well with the riffs, also fit the story of the intense war. The shrieking is also great at the more intense moments, with the crazed screams enhancing the more wild tone in those moments. As good as the vocals were in The Levant Sultanate, this album would expand upon those vocals further, and in turn makes the album even more likable.
Then, of course, there's the lyrics. Compared to the racist and problematic lyrics of Arghoslent, the lyrics on this album mainly deal with war and battles, which I think are fantastic. A great example of this is in the title track "Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory", where this verse quotes:
Overthrow the lined defenses
Battered men come to their senses
Brittle men retreat
To admit their cowardice
Bearing white to strike a deal
Only to be met with steel
Pleading on deaf ears
That want your existence to cease
In this particular verse, the enemy team looks to be surrendering, only for the leading team to continue to hunt them down. The tone of the lyrics here are unforgiving, as they double down on a "no mercy" attitude that feels genuine, and makes you feel as though the enemies deserve it. It's also similar in the track "Napoleonic Code", where the line "Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake" is repeated twice, a subtle, yet great reinforcement of the idea to strike your enemy when they least expect it. Furthermore, these lyrics are just about perfect with this type of melodic death metal, with the harsh and melodic riffs and growling vocals further painting the picture of the intense and violent moments in history. The lyrics on this album are great at its brutal perspective of war, and flow perfectly with the instrumentals and vocals.
In a way, one could argue that this album is basically a continuation of Arghoslent's third album, but without the racial apology and mediocre riff play half the time. With a more melodic approach to the harsh composition, plus some powerful vocals and poetic lyrics about war, and it's definitely one of the best Arghoslent-worship bands out there. For those looking for a good alternative to Arghoslent, this is one band I would highly recommend.
As is typically the case when it comes to smaller local scenes, the demise of one band often means the rise of another, oftentimes more than one. Grenadier is a brand new blackened and / or melodic death metal band featuring members of Emblem, Allagash, Nocturnal Prayer, Luminance, Goreforge and many others, and with a lineup full of so many Newfoundland metal scene alumni, would you expect any less than the absolute ripper that is Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory? The first thing that struck me about this record was the interesting collision of sounds found on here that are no doubt inspired by the numerous projects the members of the band have been involved in. The guitars on here are provided by Nick Baker and Chris Rodgers, the latter of which was a member of the seminal Newfoundland power / melodeath band Cyprian, whereas the bass is provided by Harry Clarke of aforementioned Emblem glory. As such the riff work on here is a unique pastiche of 90’s melodic death metal and classic metal riffage from the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal school. However, given the band’s aesthetic, it should come as no surprise that there’s a black metal tinge draped over everything, with highly melodic tremolo picked riffs screaming away over blast beat sections, evoking comparisons to groups like Dissection or Skeletonwitch. It’s thrashy while remaining soaring and epic. Make no mistake, though, this is a death metal band at its heart, which is why vocalist Adam Sharr, also of the black metal projects Nocturnal Prayer and Luminance, bellows his guts out with some supremely deep guttural vocals. Nary a high scream is to be found throughout this entire record as Sharr prefers to keep things on the low end, contributing once again to the unique sound this band has cultivated. The drumming on this record is also fucking awesome. Jordon Walsh, formerly of the blackened thrash band Goreforge as well as numerous other bands and projects, is no doubt one of the best extreme music drummers in Newfoundland, as both his past works and current works evidence. This record is full of extremely heavy shit when it comes to the drumming. Many of the songs, such as “Commending the Imperial”, contain mid-tempo one-two thrash style drum beats before transitioning either into slower headbang-inducing sections or faster passages of blast beats. He even throws in a disco beat here and there, like on the album opener “Atrocity Cycle”. Beyond the obvious experience and talents of the musicians involved on this project, the songwriting is also pretty damned good. Many of these songs have more riffs than you can shake a stick at, resulting in most of them being over 5 minutes. Still, the shortest track on this album, “Storm Attrition”, still has a ton of variety within its runtime. However, I do find myself occasionally getting lost in the background on some of these songs. It sometimes feels like an individual track changes so much within its length that I kind of lose track of where I am on the record. That being said, part of this may be from the production. This album was produced by Allagash guitarist Trevor Leonard, who has produced numerous other projects in the past. Yet, when I listen to this Grenadier record I’m not hearing the same style of production that I would expect from an Allagash record. The guitars on here feel a bit muddy when compared to some of the other work that Leonard has done in the past, and I feel that if the guitars were sharper and cut through the mix I’d actually like this album more than I already do. This kind of music begs for guitars that are loud and in your face, but here I feel like they’re fighting with the bass for dominance in the mix. What I find most interesting about this record is the band’s self-described genre of “sentimental death metal”, but once you listen to it and take it in it makes sense. These songs, while heavy and crushing, are intensely melodic, relying on old school metal riffage with a black metal tinge to worm their way into your head, especially with tracks as catchy as “The Napoleonic Code”. But the melodies used on this album are, by and large, very melancholic. There’s an aura of sadness pervading this record in spite of the otherwise upbeat drumming style and grandiose atmosphere. The band wants to conjure memories of a time long past with this album, and it definitely works. This is without a doubt one of the best metal records to come out of Newfoundland in recent memory. Melodic death metal and blackened death metal are two genres that sometimes fail to capture my attention in any meaningful way, but Grenadier’s infusion of thrash metal and classic speed metal into the overall picture here have definitely helped catapult them into a category of bands that are way more interesting than the standard Arch Enemy or Behemoth worship, respectively. Don’t miss out on this one, and if you get the chance to catch Grenadier live, do yourself a favour and check them out.
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