Reviewer: Chris

Swedish doom metal a la Candlemass is among the better doom metal music available. The mighty Candlemass, even sans Messiah at the helm, still manages to create some fine musical pieces. Fellow countrymen Griftegård are attempting to take up the mantle and add to an already rich legacy with their first offering, Solemn, Sacred, Severe. As for the makings of a long career, that remains to be seen, but the start is promising and above board.

Following the band’s EP Psalm Bok from 2007, Griftegård has amassed a full-length of pretty impressive music. With the shortest song on the CD clocking in at just under five minutes, the otherwise long, drawn-out dirges that are fit for a funeral come across as dark avenues of emptiness. While cuts above the usual ho-hum of doom metal that rely on guttural grunting to overcompensate for boring music, Griftegård deals a talented, dismal hand, creating some very solemn music that can be enjoyed on a long trip or short stay in a windowless room.  When zoning out is the necessary alleviation to the general surroundings, the music here can take you out of the elements at hand and drop you right into the center of some very enchanting visages.

The name Griftegård means, in the old Swedish dialect, “cemetery” or “burial ground,” which is exactly where this music might find bedfellows. While very deep and heavy in spots, the occasional slip into quiet, less obstreperous pathways emerges, especially evident in the track “Punishment & Ordeal,” my favorite track on the CD. Vocalist Thomas Eriksson’s style can find either fits of bellowing and wanton misery or moments of supreme chastity in his reserve. Sometimes the simplest efforts are the best suited for the song at hand. Then, when the music flows into the next track, “I Refuse These Ashes,” and Eriksson moans his way over the musical procession, you can find yourself trailing off somewhere, almost helplessly. Where other bands might lack in originality and style, Griftegård does indeed have it in spades.

Another standout here is “The Mire,” a slow, brooding trek through the empty of a lost soul. Lyrically, the band is intelligent and finds no triteness or silliness in its music; these are some of the better lyrics available. As the track plods along like a slow-moving waterhole, the overall sense of darkness and sorrow permeates the tempo just perfectly as the loss of a soul is both examined and mourned.

While nothing can ever top Candlemass in terms of the doom metal throne, there seems to be something in the water in Sweden that allows for certain individuals to find the perfect bowl in which to mix their collective ingredients. It can’t just be chance that Candlemass and the relatively new Griftegård are two of doom metal’s finest Scandinavian exports, right?

You’d make a fine choice seeking out this band and their CD.

Release Date: September 11, 2009
Label: Ván Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Charles Taze Russell
2.  Punishment & Ordeal
3.  I Refuse These Ashes
4.  Noah's Hands
5.  The Mire
6.  Drunk with Wormwood

Total playing time: 46:24

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*Comments:

Griftegård - Solemn • Sacred • Severe

April 8, 2010