Pretty recently I came in touch with Turkish label Merdümgiriz, pretty young but quite productive, especially focusing on projects by label founders Merdümgiriz and Emir Toğrul. It’s quite a unique label, not only for being a Turkey-based one (which cannot be that easy out there), but because of the explicit philosophy (especially of some specific acts that are on their roster) and the ‘strange’ signings. Most bands or projects are rooted within the extremer regions of Metal, but there are electronic and Hip-Hop combos as well!
Anyway, a new signing is the one with Grimmdrasil, an Oklahoma-based one-man army by Sydney Lundy. In between 2005 and 2007, Grimmdrasil released quite some recordings, but as from then it was quiet for quite some time – until now. The project returns with The Cold Haunting Loneliness Of Crushing Certainty, a lengthy seven-tracker (the songs last in between six and ten minutes). And like every Merdümgiriz release, everything that concerns the artwork has been done handmade by label co-owner Emir.
The Cold Haunting Loneliness Of Crushing Certainty opens with Introspect And Distain, which starts as some mixture of tranquil Jazz, Post-Rock and Avant-garde, with funky and progressive bass lines and drum patterns, and ambient synths, calm guitar melodies and clean semi-spoken words. Quite soon the whole turns heavier, with the addition of melodious electric guitar melodies and deep-blackened screams. But it gets weirder and weirder, for after two and a half minutes the extremity turns into noisy proportions, then again towards frenzy Black-Industro-Prog Metal, followed by excerpts of apocalyptic Doom (at four minutes), and this way the experience continues. Further on there are elements from Funeral Doom, Psychedelic Rock (often with elements from the Sixties / Seventies), Dark Rock / Death Rock, groovy Post-Punk and Sludgecore, as well as Industrial (quite a general description, I admit, but I am not about to sum up each industrialised direction that might appear throughout the album), Tribal, occult rituals, Noise, Dub, Techno, Space-Acid (?), co(s)mic Electronics, Folklore and Dark Ambient, all gathered under a mostly noisy and loud banner. This goes for all pieces included in this release. Each time I listen to The Cold Haunting Loneliness Of Crushing Certainty, new elements appear, and each time it leaves me confused. There is so much to experience, so much to endure, and there is not one single minute that gives the listener the opportunity to relax, to sit back, to comprehend the whole concept.
The variety does not only go for the endless injections of muSICKal types, trends and genres alone; the vocals, for example, are quite diverse too: singing, chanting, narrating, sighing, mourning, grunting, screaming, growling, vomiting and gurgling. So is the tempo, so are the structures, so are the emotions and atmospheres that pass by… And that brings me to a conclusion that needs to be taken seriously, and with full attention: the sublimity of this effort might be an aural orgasm, yet it might be a confusing, head-aching and intolerable exercise too… Listen to it at least 66 times before you decide to buy (or steal) the stuff. It will cause pain and discomfort, so let your masochistic inner-self convince you, or warn you…