Since I did promise to write a review for ‘older’ releases by bands and / or projects and / or artists and / or labels and / or distributors (etc.) that I do adore (personally and / or musically) when I did put Concreteweb (temporary) on hold about one year ago, I will finish this one, even-though it’s all about such older release. This one is for the beautiful human being Stu in the first place!
However, all this goes further than my eternal appreciation for Aesthetic Death’s register, because I think (a personal opinion will follow) that Grava’s 2022 debut, Weight Of A God, was one of the best (Blackened Sludge) recordings released that very same year. With the very same line-up (bass-player Niels Asger Svensson, drummer Casper Axilgård and vocalist / guitarist Atli Brix Kamban; Niels and Casper used to be in Whelm, by the way, which was an act that did release – or actually: an act that did re-release – an album via Aesthetic Death as well before), the trio entered the studio once again in order to prepare, and finish, the successor of that fabulous debut album. And you know, with The Great White Nothing, Grava sort of parallels with its chaste predecessor, although it might sound less provocative and dissonant, yet at least as monolithic and decayed.
Well, as from the first riff, cf. the opening track Erebus, the innocent listener gets overflowed by an enormous wall of heaviness; an avalanche of metallic noise that covers the hopeless listener with a megalithic strength. The concept is simple in essence: gigantic down-tuned riffs, brutal riffs that crawl forward, slowly yet unstoppable, thunderous drum patterns and skull-crushing percussions, sluggish four-string support, and vocals so deep, so sulfur ‘n’ acid spitting… Add the magnificent leads and hypnotic solos, the subtle and ingenious tempo-changes, the deceiving hints of seemingly finding rest, and on top of it the monumental, all-overpowering production; the latter being heavy as f*ck, raw, unpolished, rusty, yet smoothly balanced and flawlessly mixed at the very same time.
Songs seen through the eyes of the dying…
It’s hard to imagine the equilibrium of quite a complex execution compared to the ease of performance. Imagine these epic riffs and martial drums in Breaker, subtle in nature but showing a highly effected creativity. And what about the, well, ‘beautiful’ outro on The Fall, a depressed excerpt of haunting Dark Drone Ambient majesty. The injection of atmospheric Ambient passages do appear several times, by the way (like that intermezzo in the mostly intoxicating track Hinterlands) Or the short yet effective instrumental piece Ceasefire, barb-wired yet carefully caressing one’s eardrums at once.
A word about the artwork, created by some Johannes Larsen, created in a fine color-palette of fifty shades of blue. Clouds penetrated by a sun, people standing at the shore staring at a distant sailing ship; it’s mysterious, it’s ominous, it’s enigmatic. At the very same time, it does combine cosmic power, spiritual transcendence and humble awe.
The Great White Nothing was released once more via Aesthetic Death, as mentioned before, on compact disc, and this in an edition of (only) 200 copies. There’s a vinyl edition too (yet I can’t find any direct link to order this specific item), taken care of by Vinyltroll (they did re-release Grava’s debut on both tape and LP too), as well as a cassette edition, which is courtesy of Evil Noise Recordings this time. And purely informative: the whole has been mixed and engineered again by Troels Holm, while the mastering duties were taken care of once more at the legendary Audiosiege head-quarters by Brad Boatright himself.
PS: the band released a split with their colleagues Kollapse in the meantime. Isn’t that fun???
https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=6544
https://gravadanois.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-white-nothing
https://evilnoiserecordings.bigcartel.com/product/grava-the-great-white-nothing
https://vinyltroll.com/releases/
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/grava
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/whelm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSEH0OifzE&t=24s