Grimah "Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom" CD

CD Jewel case / 8-page booklet

Nihilistic & Triumphant Black Metal spawned from visions and reflections about ill-fated existetialism and influenced by chaotic thinking of reality in itself. An instropection from individual conscious being of perceiving the authentic depths of the world that surrounds and what it entails realize of the void from this reality.
This feeling is the strength that inspires Grimah's full-length debut ''Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom'', describing the process of the absolute meaning; of the nostalgia that sometimes emanates from deep inside; of the suffering because of incomprehension of the abstract will; of the scorn that causes this path towards death; and the mysteries that seduce the deliberations about our interpretion of the universe.

The First album of the Spanish band Grimah is really surprising. Right from the start, it is possible to see the band's sources of inspiration. It follows a line of modern black metal, taking inspiration from bands like Mgla, Uada, Lutomysl and Dissection. With several interesting riffs, and very unique melodies. The journey trough the songs really meets expectations regarding their origins. You can feel the spain in every riiff. The icy atmosphere is present too, starting with the album cover. It evokes some ancient magickal trough the lyrics, something really unusual that fits pretty nice here.
There are several elements I actually like about the album. Its atmosphere is bleak, gloomy and sinister. The vocals are angry, desperate and energetic. The cold guitar riffs blend in nicely. The rhythm section is surprisingly diverse and the drum play in particular offers far more than expected blast beat passages. The final two tunes offers atmospheric transitions that give the two longest tunes some conceptual depth. The lyrics are rather interesting and offer some emotional and philosophical value instead of focusing on blind nihilism and predictable shock value.
The real beauty of Grimah lays in their songwriting. Because their riffs are so melodically similar to one another, they write songs that can take proper time and care to introduce the best riffs while still keeping every moment interesting in some way. They always write a hell of an epic closer, too (I'm starting to notice that I really like it when a band has a larger-than-life final track), and "pendolo de agonia y desden" holds its own with the best of 'em. Starting off with a nice acoustic intro, a triumphant tremolo riff crashes in to introduce the black metal element, and then the song goes to a rolling double-kick while playing the distorted version of the opening riff. It sounds somewhat simple and mundane when I type it out, but I swear it's genius when you actually hear how it flows.
Grimah deserve an album like this. An album that will once and for all cast them out of the shadows of the, nowadays, poor underground. Intricacies of Bowed Wisdom has the potential to become one of this year's highlights and make many lists. For most of its playing time you will feel dazzled but after its completion you will instantly want to repeat it.

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