On October 20th GrimmDistribution (Ukraine) and MurdHer Records (Italy) will release a new EP by the Finnish symphonic black metal band Gloomy Grim entitled Obscure Metamorphosis, and today we present the second track in the EP’s running order, “Stars Above Me“.
This makes the third year in a row when we’ve premiered music off different releases by this band, but a few words of introduction might still be warranted for those who are encountering their music for the first time.
The band first took shape in the mid-’90s as the solo project of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Agathon. Since then, Gloomy Grim evolved into a full band and have released six albums, the last of which was 2016’s The Age of Aquarius, as well as a couple of compilations and one previous EP. There have been line-up changes, but Agathon has remained steadfast at the center of the band’s music, which has consistently been inspired by horror movies and their soundtracks, as well as by the darkness of life in general.
This new EP is itself described as “a kind of movie without a picture”. The music and lyrics are all related to each other, and the music evolves as the story does, so that listening to the EP as a whole, with your mind supplying the imagery, is the best way to experience it.
Nevertheless, only one song is what we have for you at the moment. You can imagine the twinkle of stars above in the opening seconds of the track, but those glimmering tones are soon replaced by an ominous storm surge of bone-breaking percussion, bleak, gale-force guitars (which begin to vibrate with a dismal resonance), and vicious vocal howling.
The mystical reverberations from the opening reappear as a prelude to a more stately and perilous passage in which sweeping symphonics and a different, roaring vocal expression lend the music an air of frightening majesty, which in turn gives way to sounds of increasing intensity, combining sensations of delirium, desolation, and agony.
Obscure Metamorphosis will be released on CD with an 8-page booklet, as well as digitally. Along with “Stars Above Me”, we’ve included a stream of the previously released track “The Lord of Light” (a free download at Bandcamp), which immediately follows in the running order.
PRE-ORDER:
https://grimmdistribution.bandcamp.com/album/028gd-gloomy-grim-obscure-metamorphosis-ep-2018
GLOOMY GRIM:
http://www.facebook.com/agathonthebeast
TRACK LIST:
01. Crawling Saviour
02. Stars Above Me
03. The Lord Of Light
04. Impressive Physical Sight
Length – 13:35