GrimHrafn – Pestilent Resilience [EP]

Here we go again with a release for this year, 2025, but it sounds like we’re back in the golden 90s.

I must confess that I feel admiration when the members remain under that veil of mystery, not revealing who is conspiring behind the ritual fire. Perhaps I’ve said this before, but it’s like a morbid emotion that awakens in me when I listen to this type of work, transporting me back to those years when I spent hours of the day and night reading interviews or reviews in the old fanzines where many bands practicing the nascent Black Metal shrouded themselves in a cloak of occultism and darkness!

‘Profane Magick’ is the first attack that gives us a cordial welcome. After a brief introduction, the affability dies in the sharp claws of the Raw Black Metal practiced by GrimHrafn. Tremolo melodies predominate with keyboards that give a sensation of shallow depth to the music since they are not above other instruments in terms of volume, so the accompaniment function is well achieved along with the screams and rhythms characteristic of old Black Metal. Here you will not find anything innovative, new, or ‘refreshing’, The path traveled is the same black and cursed path that for years leads to the bonfire several cultists in the world have dedicated themselves to keeping lit. We’re talking about a work with an average of 6 minutes per track, but the variation in rhythms makes them flow like the morning mist emanating from the catacombs. For example, ‘The Astral Crusade’, like its predecessor, spreads its wings between melodic riffs, rhythm changes, repeating patterns, screams chewing on curses, and accompanying keyboards. Something I love is the guitar interference noise at the beginning of each track; this reminds me of Ulver’s ‘Nattens Madrigal’.

‘Enchanted Spectre of Horrid Illusions’ is one of the most intense tracks of the opus. With that damn name, they evoke the fury and malice unleashed by the enchanted spectre, and yes, the most outstanding thing is its intensity that does not diminish throughout the almost 5 minutes manifested! Continuing in the line of invocation, the theme that gives the work its name has riffs that will easily lodge as parasites in the head for several days. To close, ‘Trinity of Deceit’ is adorned with an introduction of synthesizers. Another aspect to highlight is the degree of melancholy and hatred that GrimHrafn injects into the album’s music, which by the way has a duration of 36 minutes, but for some reason, they call it an EP (Go to the devil knows why).

If you are a seeker of ancient spectral sounds of Raw Black Metal with that touch of nostalgia for forgotten times, this work is for you, especially if you do not care who its creators are. Glory to the halo of mystery and mysticism of Black Metal! Is it a nod to the eternal return of the identical? Meanwhile, Cronos continues to consume us in his timeless jaws.