It’s probably arguable that Norway’s biggest export is Black Metal. They started the genre, and since the early 90,s numerous bands have come (and gone).
Here I have Gryla and their second album The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass. Torbjørn Kirby Torbo is the one-man mastermind behind the chaos on display. This is a savage bit of work, blasphemous to infinity and beyond.
“The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass pt.1″ gets it going with a choir, singing hallelujahs three times before the blasts rise from the pits of Hell. Torbjørn has a great raspy voice for Black Metal, and he also lays out a couple of Death Metal growls along the way. I pick up some early Darkthrone circa Soulside Journey and A Blaze in the Northern Sky in there, and that vibe continues with “The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass pt.2″ a rip roaring Black Thrash number that lays waste to the churches across the land. Scythe like riffs combusting against the blitzkrieg of the drums.
Gryla pays homage to Gorgoroth on “Banners Soaked in Crimson Essence” sounding like Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam, Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt and Instinctus Bestialis rolled into one brutal Black Metal killer.
There’s a bit of a Punk vibe evident on The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass, an album that throws two giant sized middle fingers at Christianity and that shows up on “Imposer”. A violent duo of sickness is what follows with “Carnal Beast” another Punked up blaster that goes for the throat and doesn’t let go and “Spewing Fecal Abjurations” does that job with ease. Riffs tearing and slashing flesh and bone and boring into the soft brain matter in order to keep the corruption going.
With The Redeemer’s Festering Carcass, Gryla have unleashed a fantastic Sophomore release that doesn’t let up from the get go. Black Metal purists will eat this up, especially fans of Darkthrone, Gorgoroth and Dødheimsgard. Get it and enshroud yourself in blasphemy!
