The more I look into the Irish metal scene as a whole, the more I begin to notice just how much potential the country has as a whole to become a metal powerhouse of the world if people gave it the proper attention it deserves. From black metal acts that have influenced others for decades to doom acts like Soothsayer that have captured my heart, there’s no denying the Irish know how to metal. As if to further prove that point, it’s with their latest work that The Grief gives us a grandiose display of death/doom that can only be described as immensely flavorful.

It’s one thing to make some death/doom and try to add a gothic flair to it all to make your album feel a little bit moodier or have an extra layer to make the material in question feel more “authentic” in a way, but to do it well is to craft something very interesting from start to finish. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting all that much from the four songs that are brought forth here in The Grief’s debut album, “Ascent”, but I was greeted with something very tasty that showed promise and kept delivering right from the first minute. More often than not, it feels like anything with a gothic layer over everything else just doesn’t fit, but the particular flavor of death/doom that The Grief flaunt all throughout this album is nothing to scoff at as it makes that gothic element work magnificently well as it truly contributes something interesting to the experience with a great atmosphere that permeates the already glorious metal that constantly delivers. Vocals that are just as immaculate when they’re clean as they are when they’re growls, strings that are hypnotic and punishing right from the get-go, drums that could crack the very sky if they so deserved, and an attitude that makes every moment of “Ascent” an exciting piece to behold in each track; there’s not much that The Grief didn’t pull off with surprisingly quality to the point that I feel we’ll be hard-pressed to find a better piece of this kind come out of Ireland for a good long while.

Much like India, Ireland has a scene that has so much to offer if people would just take the time to sift through it, and The Grief is nigh on a perfect example of that as this is just their debut album with quality to match a band’s fifth or sixth after going at it for several years. There isn’t much to not enjoy once you dive into “Ascent”, and any fan of death/doom will find themselves one good time after another with each track from this album.

LISTEN to “Ascent” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE The Grief on Facebook here.