Grief - Come To Grief 2xLP
Come to Grief opens with a chaotic few seconds of feedback, before the track ‘Earthworm’ thrusts you into the aggressive riffing that is the spine of this album. The heaviness of Grief’s music is astounding; the controlled aggression that comes with every mind crushing riff is the crux of Come to Grief. Sludge doom from Boston, Grief have been around for the most part of the last two decades, albeit a five year hiatus beginning in 2001. Come to Grief is their second full length, and is an album of various metaphors; a thousand hammers smashing in your face, a multiple car pileup on your face, or simply having the shit beaten out of you for not listening to this album.
The opening feedback gives a sign of things to come with Come to Grief: this is sludge at its finest. Dirty, punishing riffs, smothered in a very tolerable fuzziness that, rather than washing out the sound, gives it a delectable gritty edge. However, rather than simply delivering a plethora of riffs, Grief add to the diversity with occasional ‘wheeyous’ and similarly needless hooks to the guitar lines. Moments like the last minute of ‘World of Hurt’ are just fantastic in topping off the rough excess of face hammering; a heightened tempo and a sneer of belligerence in what is an infectiously groovy riff closes the track sublimely, and such scornfully awesome moments are abundant throughout the album’s hour length.
Not diverging far from the aforementioned sound, the vocals are as coarse and granular as shredded wheat. Whether they’re dirty screams or vomited gutturals, such an intense and passionate performance brings the hatred filled lyrics to life. Lines like ‘Only one thing comes to mind / When I look into your eyes / I think of all those times / All I did was despise you / I hate you’ are so fervently hostile and antagonistic that you can’t help feeling like you want to go and beat the shit out of some pussy Cradle of Filth fans. The lyrical matter of the album does not stray far from abhorrence, spite and hatred; track titles such as ‘World of Hurt’, ‘I Hate You’ and ‘Fed Up’ pretty much speak for themselves.
Come to Grief rules. If you haven’t heard it, do it now. The album ends with the line ‘I’ll screw you all in the end’, and yes, he was talking about you. Highly recommended.
Throne Records