Gryftigæn — Graven til Måneåpenbaringer
The band was founded in 2020 and consists of Melek Rsh Nvth, who may already be known to one or the other from one of his numerous projects such as - 13th Temple, Mantiel, Old Castles, or Pyreficativm. He is accompanied by Lord Mbl Dmn III, who was also a member of 13th Temple. Both members are part of “Pure Raw Underground Black Metal Plague”.
Gryftigæn practices the most rudimentary and poorly produced Black Metal that I have come across in a long time. So it’s fair to say Graven til Måneåpenbaringer is not going to be for everyone- but if you enjoy this kind of rumbling, shaky, spitting and starving production you will not be able to ignore the project!
The five compositions of Graven Til Måneåpenbaringer each feature cold, lean riffs with strange and captivating melodies and a breathless, hypnotic rhythm.
The 5:26 minute long opener "Crossing The Venomous Ritual" starts with a sparse, cracking ambient sound (is there such a thing as raw ambient?) and then it beats down the classic formula in the best possible way- raw Black Metal with straight forward atmospheric guitar arrangements of simple riffs and vague tremolo-picked melody, accompanied by rasped vocals.
The following tracks "Sarcophagical Black Sorcery", "Fatidic Manifestation of Azael's Blood" and "Circle Of Twofold Attraction" follow on in a similar manner. Admittedly it's not very innovative, but it's compelling due to the grimly hypnotic melodies.
The last track, "Nightside Of The Eye Of Seth", is an atmospheric mid-tempo track that closes the album and breaks with the dynamics of the previous tracks.
This is also a very classic formula that once again fulfils certain aesthetics typical for Black Metal of the 90s in the most authentic form. The Chilean duo present here the right nuances of less subtle pattern changes mixed with ghostly lo-fi ambience to compensate for the extremely repetitive nature of their compositions.
Graven Til Måneåpenbaringer is an album that won't appeal to everyone, but in the black metal lo-fi genre of damp and dark dungeons it's a worthy insider tip!