Band: Grimlord
Title: Dolce Vita Sath-anas
Label: Trident Harmony
Distribution: /
Release date: 31/01/2010
Review: CD

What the (Heaven or Hell) is going on? (it) reviewing a Heavy Metal album??? Have the ancient Gods gone crazy? Well, in some cases, Heavy Metal doesn’t make me puke over and over again. When it comes to sleazy stuff, it sometimes does please me, and in the case of Grimlord (the Polish one) it is… Or at least: partly.

As a matter of fact, Dolce Vita Sath-anas, Grimlord’s second full length studio album (after the 2007-release Blood Runneth Over), isn’t just some average Metal-album. Yes, the core is based on ‘Heavy’ Metal, somewhat old styled, but the whole goes further than that. The atmosphere is ominous, oppressing, nocturnal and haunting, and the sound is monstrous, overwhelming and sinister. The whole balances on an obscure, almost blackened edge, and both the universal approach and the close relationship to other genres (Thrash / Speed / … Metal) go well with the variation in tempo and melody.

It all starts very promising. The title track, When The Heads Are Going Down, Oh My King, these are hymns that might be considered ‘above the average’. This material even exhales a blackish atmosphere with modern and old schoolish elements. But… As from the fourth track, I cannot follow anymore. No vocals anymore (not a problem, because instrumental songs can be interesting too, of course) and a production that sucks??? Suddenly I’m listening to rehearsal-material (when it comes to the sound – done at HS Studio, by the way) with an inferior mix (Zed Studio) and lots of clichés (in both song structures as performance). Not that terrible, but completely lacking of an own face. Predictable riffs, evident tempo-changes, a cheap rhythm section, sweet keyboard lines, and the addition of some samples… Damn, what a disappointment after those first three tracks! Don’t get me wrong: it isn’t that bad at all; it just sounds too easy, much too easy. There’s so much potential and unfortunately Grimlord don’t do anything useful with it – f*ck it!

Something to think about next time! Case closed.

60/100

Ivan Tibos.