Grift - Dolt Land

#FOR FANS OF: Neofolk

The Swedish solo-project Grift was founded by Erik Gärdefors more than a decade ago. Erik has been a quite active member of the extreme metal scene in Sweden. His previous and also current projects are closely tied to the black and death metal subgenres, where he has shown his talent. With Grift, we can appreciate a further vision of Erik’s musical interest as he brings a strong folk influence on the ‘creation table’, where Grift was crafted. Since its inception, Grift’s music has been a quite palatable mixture of black metal and neo folk influences. As it usually happens the first opus entitled 'Syner' already had a very solid mixture of both genres, although the black metal elements sounded a bit harsher than in the subsequent releases. With albums like 'Arvet' or 'Budet', the intrinsically melancholic influence of the neo folk music impregnated the full compositions of Grift and even the blackest metal elements had a strong influence of the aforementioned subgenre. That led to the creation of something unique and, therefore, forged Grift’s own musical vision.

With the new opus entitled 'Dolt Land', Grift leaves behind all the black metal elements, at least for this release, as it seems that the artist contemplates the beauty of its land’s nature and consequently, tries to create an appropriate musical experience for the listeners.  So, 'Dolt Land' is logically a folk/neo-folk album with a strong melancholic touch, which is so present in the purely folk albums that metal projects release in Scandinavia. The album is an immersive experience and a very pleasant listen if you like this kind of slightly gloomy form of folk music. The nature-related ambience of the album opener "Silverne Sitg" is a fine example of what you can listen to here. The nature sounds are elegantly missed with folk instruments, which slowly gain the main role, creating a nice bridge from the wild sounds to the man created ones. Erik’s voice sounds great as he has a deep and emotional tone which is very appropriate for this type of music. Even though an album like this may not have greater variations in the tone and pace, this composition shows that some variations are possible in order to enrich the composition and make the song more interesting. Another aspect where Erik tries to add some different touches in his own voice, as he adds a raspier tone in several compositions, for example in "Nattens Pilgrim". This addition, alongside the use of different folk instruments and variation in the intensity of the structures, help to create folk songs which are not so monotonous. Another song which I enjoy quite a lot is "En Hemskog", that is an acoustic guitar-driver composition, maybe with less variation than other compositions, but with  a very nice work with this instrument that makes me appreciate it a lot.

In conclusion, 'Dolt Land' is a temporary departure from Grift’s fusion of neo-folk and black elements, and although this may disappoint some of its fans, I personally urge all of them to give a chance to this album, as it is a very tasteful and enjoyable listen. (Alain González Artola)

(Nordvis Produktion - 2023)

Score: 75

 

https://grift-nordvis.bandcamp.com/album/dolt-land 

Grift - Arvet

#FOR FANS OF: Depressive Black Metal

Eric Gärdefors' anguished and depressive black metal project, Grift, continues in its smooth, intimate, and captivating approach with another desperate cry into the untamed wilderness. The lonely house that Grift built, residing twixt the trees of a desolate forest and lying unlit under an ashen sky, is the prison of an isolated mind that dwells on the inherent insignificance of existence while awaiting inevitable demise.

Folksy acoustic guitars with pattering traditional drums, wailing cries both high and low, and a dive into the fury of fleeting black metal riffs characterize “Flyktfast”, Den Stora Tystnaden”, and “Utdöingsbygd” as genuine and significant standard metal affairs among a catalogue of introspective and disillusioned lyrics. After two minutes of a desolate and creeping intro, where the serenity of a quiet resonating cymbal tolling between creaks of wood is interrupted by distant cries, a barking dog, and a drop into Grift's most energetic song on this album, “Glömskans Jrtecken” harnesses its lonesome atmosphere in a tumble of emotions. The relentlessly kicking rhythm buffets long, drawn out guitars that longingly ring like organs, yearning to recapture a long lost mental state, stuck in a fleeting moment that is impossible to hold onto after conjuring a shadow if itself in retrospect. Lyrically, the song describes the somber revelation that memories merely malform over time. Through an easily-convinced naivete, minds that sought signs of the 'urkraft' or primordial force that has awakened mankind's cognition were simply imagining, never witnessing the spirits manifesting themselves in the greatness that so deluded such a once-impressionable youth.

The avant-garde moments of this release make up the majority of “Morgon På Stromshölm”, with its four minutes of birdsong, cymbal tinks, and a grating violin taking over the final minute of the track. “Nattyxne” embraces its desolation to drag the guitars through begrudgingly beautiful tones while assuring the listener that, despite all the pleasing sounds and picturesque landscapes it conjures, the tone of this album remains firmly entrenched in its dispirited disposition. Emotionally impactful, Grift's 'Arvet' is an unheard cry for help as the production fills the air with the moisture of falling tears and mesmerizing melancholic measures. The understated intensity of this album, lurking in the shadows before pouncing in “Utdöingsbygd”, creates a reversed rhythm crushing its own heart and wallowing in its self-absorbed misery while maintaining a firm grip on the desolate black metal structure that culminates in the swing of tremolos and blasts. (Five_Nails)

(Nordvis Prod - 2017)
Score: 75

https://nordvis.bandcamp.com/album/arvet

Drudkh/Grift - Betrayed by the Sun/Hägringar

#FOR FANS OF: Black/Epic, Agalloch

Metal is a vast, versatile, and global subculture of musicians and fans with enclaves, scenes, and subgroups hidden under nearly every culture's surface. This style of music, while abrasive, is a strong and touching medium where composers impart a vast array of emotions on each listener in increasingly inventive ways. As with any subjective form of art, each listener may glean his own meaning from the music, its imagery, and the outlook on the world that has birthed it. However, metal sets itself apart as a most precious style to its followers where fandom and fanaticism seem one and the same. Albeit precocious to outsiders, many metal fans don't just tune in through a phase in their lives. The music becomes internalized as a consistent catharsis in listeners lives. Bands like Drudkh play a very intimate version of such an audacious sub-genre as black metal heralding a deep divide between fans who don't see this band as true enough for them and fans who admire a humbler rumble that, despite its calmer demeanor, will still evoke a strong reaction. While Drudkh is a well-established black metal act that breaks the mold with its more positive and less percussive sound, Grift plays a lament closer to the heart that denotes a derided desperation in the mind's weaved wilderness.

Ukraine's stalwart black metal band, Drudkh has brought another EP out of the forest and in true form has given fire to lamenting riffs rather than cowing to despair. “His Twenty-Fourth Spring” walks you through the curves of a woodsy road into an open meadow bristling with spring flowers and grass as the clouds clear and the crisp air thickens with the bird songs and pollen of a new year. Layered with a cold lead guitar leaving a bite in the atmosphere, hot drums warming the soil, and a rhythm guitar that keeps the peace between them both, each progression brings new life into the song as the pacing shakes off the chains of winter and stretches itself out to embrace a world renewed. In response to the rebirth of “His Twenty-Fourth Spring” is “Autumn in Sepia”, a furious denial of the coming winter that refuses to be pummeled by the changing of the winds without pummeling back. The change in tone is deeply apparent as spring comes with ease and its arrival is relished while autumn's melancholy is met by preparation. The guitars launch themselves at the drums and vocals creating a blistering cacophony that burns itself against the coming cold. Autumn is far more focused and driven to survive the oncoming winter while spring was laid back and enjoying its time in the sun. Drudkh tells a timeless story in these songs signaling the producing and parting periods that the temperate zone is known for and the effect the climate has on its inhabitants.

Desperately crying for relief, Swedish one-man band Grift begs to be heard across the expanse that Eric Gardenfors' music creates, exacerbated by furious notes only to denote the anguish of this isolation. “The Source” yearns to be found by hopeless dreamers who have nothing left to give but need an outlet from this crippling melancholy melody. “The Source” drives this hopelessness home by guiding you from that destructive depression into a drowning defile of bitterness, one that Gardenfors describes with malice in lyrics that offer a scathing cross examination as the protagonist is prosecuted. Where Drudkh brought you sun, Grift brings rain and heartache, tempering anguish on a simmering scale of drum rhythm while the boisterous beauty of its music accentuates anguish and drives dread into your hankering heart. Sol gives you no heat in these cycles. Instead it is as lacking in drive as your own thoughts create mirages of doubt when indulging in foregone failures and wrests the hope from your hapless hands. The cycle is complete as you break down into the bottle again, beauty and misery forged into the melancholy that Grift called “The Circle”. Where Drudkh brought heat and harmony, Grift gave frigid anguish and doubt. These sets of songs compliment each other well in their juxtaposition. (Five_Nails)

(Season of Mist - 2016)
Voto: 80

https://drudkh.bandcamp.com/album/betrayed-by-the-sun-h-gringar

Grift - Fyra Elegier

#PER CHI AMA: Black, Kampfar

La Nordvis, deliziosa etichetta madre di questa release, ultimamente sta dando alla luce molte interessanti proposte, sempre molto discrete e coinvolgenti, e i Grift sono una di queste. Provenienti dalla fredda Svezia, terra di una sempre più proliferante scena Black Metal vissuto con estrema dedizione, sono attivi dal 2011 ma questo loro EP di debutto è uscito solo nel 2013. 'Fyra Elegier' pare sia stato ben accolto dall’opinione generale di chi come me, cerca e studia l’evolversi del sottobosco scandinavo, ma è e rimane un prodotto di nicchia, con una bassa tiratura di uscite in formato vinile, cd e audiocassetta. i Grift sono uno dei molti gruppi svedesi che stanno delineando il profilo di una seconda e credibilissima genesi di blacksters purosangue. Questo genere che io oserei definire “nuovo”, è in realtà ciò che era sempre stato il Black Metal prima della sua rovina, ossia austerità, introspezione, misantropia e profonda chiusura nei confronti di un mondo che guarda ad un futuro sempre più dannatamente falso e miserabile. Questo 'Fyra Elegier' che tradotto significa “quattro elegie” è composto da quattro canzoni che non stravolgeranno il mondo, ne si auto-proclameranno come virtuosi capolavori dell’anno perché questo “nuovo” modo di sentire e vivere il Black Metal finalmente è disinteressato e se ne sbatte le palle dei media, è pulito e vivo, ha un anima e non necessita di strafare per attirare l’attenzione dei metallari da cheeseburger che se ne stanno su youtube più annoiati dei loro stessi brufoli, né lecca il sedere alle etichette più progressiste e orientate a nuove tendenze shoegaze, nella speranza di farsi preconfezionare un bell’artwork a triangoli e farsi sbattere sul mercato come nuova rivelazione del momento. In questi 24 minuti regnano la quiete e l’armonia, a dispetto della violenza cieca e della brutalità estrema che troppo spesso è fumo negli occhi a nascondere fragilità e povertà di idee all’ascoltatore. Qui si ascolta musica dedicata alla pace eterna, fredda, profonda, una pace che solo la morte sa e può dare, scaturita dall’apertura di un intro di tristi violini che dondolanti, paiono uscire da un grammofono. Successivamente la notte discende su tutto con un cielo costellato di riff generosamente melodici, appoggiati su una batteria che come un cavallo stanco, trotta rovinosamente verso i meandri dell’oscurità assieme al suo condottiero che proclama le ultime memorie. I Grift possiedono un lato malinconico che definisce i tratti della loro musica, ma sono molto lontani dal depressive black, sono più simili ai vecchi Kampfar e ne condividono lo stesso scarno minimalismo, la stessa essenzialità che però in questo caso non è volta a raccontare storie di mitologia nordica, né ha la medesima attitudine nazionalista; qui la cosa che si sente di più, non è l’amore per la propria terra, per la propria storia passata, ma l’amore per la morte, e la rabbia verso la superficialità con cui l’uomo volge ad essa. Mi raccomando, prima di cadere nel più antico e immemorabile silenzio, nella pace ultima, prima che sopraggiunga la fine di ogni cosa… ricordatevi di ascoltate 'Fyra Elegier'. (Alessio Skogen Algiz)

(Nordvis Produktion - 2013)
Voto: 80

https://www.facebook.com/Griftofficial