When taking your first steps as a band, it can be quite a challenge to come across as a cohesive unit with a collective vision that feels realized, well-executed, and well thought out. Those initial steps are oftentimes what set the bar for whatever is to come as your first release, and all too often are we given efforts from new bands that are clearly trying yet few are able to deliver to the fullest. With their debut EP, Off Grief suffered no such trappings and, instead, immediately blossom into something more than worthy of investigation.
By no stretch of the imagination, post-black metal is far from a sound that is scant in its population. Constantly are we treated to new bands cropping out of the woodwork to offer us a new vision of the sound, but it’s not too terribly often that we can come before an act that feels genuine, intense, and fascinating in equal measures such that we have no choice but to recognize and respect the talent that is before us. For everything delivered throughout “The Grief Tapes”, Off Grief makes itself instantly known as an act that is more than befitting of just such a description. Four tracks adorn this EP, all of which were recorded at a live performance, and it’s throughout each of these twenty-three minutes that we’re given a ferociously crisp delivery of post-black metal that knows how to be dynamic and nothing short of sensation right out of the gate. Capable of riffs and atmospheres alongside so much more to ensure that the energy of the EP never drops even in the work’s smallest moments, “The Grief Tapes” lays the groundwork for some intelligent songwriting and a clear understanding of the craft that feels downright captivating to explore time after time. There’s significant weight in each of these notes with the vocals expounding on the apathy of the world around us while cementing an evocative core that makes the work downright effortless to fall into.
“The Grief Tapes” is a dark catharsis that knows precisely what it’s doing. Off Grief may only be just getting started with what they deliver with this effort, but the results are no less than bombastic. The underground is always teeming with bands that are looking to make their presence known and their sound heard, and I don’t think Off Grief will struggle in the slightest in doing so for if this is just where they’re starting, I cannot help but anticipate what can be done when they further hone their already deadly sound.
LISTEN to “The Grief Tapes” on Bandcamp here.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GULkUbDmIXU&list=RDGULkUbDmIXU&start_radio=1