Band : Vverevvolf Grehv

Album title : Zombie Aesthetics

Label : Relapse

Distributor : Rough Trade

Release date : 10/03/2008

Release : CD

Real weird stuff, this...and I have some trouble believing it's actually for serious!!!

Vverevvolf Grehv (speak out as "werewolf grave") is the one-man project of ElectroPop-Rock outfit The Faint 's Dapose , alter ego of one Michael Dappen who, following the demise of his former band (Death Metal act Lead ) joined The Faint to re-inject the latter with a dosis of guitar (and visual design). This happened while the band was writing the material for their 3 rd album, 2001's Danse Macabre . That album did surprisingly well, due partly to an extensive touring schedule, with as a direct result that the band was able to buy themselves the video projection equipment they'd been wanting to use during their shows. A more negative result was that they fell behind on the writing process, and finding it almost impossible to write new stuff. In fact, the band members felt studk in a way. However, once they got their rehearsal schedule back in good order everything fell in place, with as eventual result the September 2004 release of their most current album Wet Brom Birth (songs from that and other albums can be heard at thefaint.com/audio).

It would seem that the band fell in an impasse again after that, because they still don't have no new stuff coming up. Somewhere along the way, Dapose started fiddling about with the band's electronic equipment, and since he'd never stopped being in love with the kind of brutal Death Metal he'd played before, the idea crept in his mind to record a tribute to his favourite bands while vearing away from the sounds of Morbid Angel 's Blessed Are The Sick album, Cephalic Carnage 's Lucid Interval , Gorguts ' Obscura or The Erosion Of Sanity , Immolation 's Here In After , anything by Suffocation , Satiricon 's Rebal Extravaganza , or Sinister 's Cross The Styx . Eventually, he self-released the stuff (on cd-R, I guess) in 2006, and at long last the guys at Relapse picked up the thing for global distribution.

And now here's a warning, because even Relapse can make an occasional mistake, you know. Frankly...I wish Dapose had either taken more time to study the electronics, or had stayed away from it all together! I mean, the man's been using the equipment in a variety of ways, some of which he should've had the common sense nót to use at all after having heard how it destroyed the very essence of some of the songs. It's bad enough that he's occasionally trying to make you believe there's something wrong with the disc by cutting up pieces digitally (just listen to the album opening "Emancipation Of Dissonance as an example)...but he's also written a couple of pieces where the guitar is completely absent, and what you get in stead is some bleeps and static on a bed of atmospheric, say Ambient keyboard (in it self not at all a bad track, that, albeit in a completely different musical style than what the average Concrete Web reader is used to). In other tracks that guitar sounds rather like the antics of a beginning juvenile guitarist with only the beginning feelings for melody just solo-ing away at top speed, recording the stuff, and then throwing in some dissonant drums and miscellanous sound effects from the sampler or sequencer on top! In other words, it's occasionally like as if he's just recorded some stuff without actually looking for coherence. Still, there's moments when things come together like he's actually thought about the track in advance. But then there's also other moments when the guitar doesn't even come close to Death Metal at all, but rather seems to stem from '70s-'80s Hard Rock.

Of course, the record label cutting up the 11 tracks into 98 on the promo copy, and then not letting us know where the tracks start, does not make our job any easier. Yoù can listen to 3 full tracks at myspace.com/vverevvolfgrehv. Classify under "Experimental/Electronics/Grind Metal/Death", look at the album as a funny side-step, and get drunk (or high on your favourite party drug) before listening to the Myspace songs a couple of times. You know, I bet you'll start to actually líke this stuff after a multiple repeat of listening sessions...if at least you're as open-minded as myself! If the aswer is negative, then I'm afraid you'll be one of many who are nót gonna buy the album. As I said before, I have my doubts about the seriousness of these recordings...but on the other hand I dó occasionally listen to even freakier music than this!

87/100

Tony.