Gothic doom metal is a relatively easy genre to write and perform but a very difficult one to master. Take Grimfaith for example and their latest full length ‘Preacher Creature’. Once you get past the intro track which screams (quite literally) DSBM, suddenly there are keyboards, chugging guitars and impassioned vocals. Rather too impassioned as it happens, but more about that later. The basic fact is that if you are a fan of the modern gothic doom style, (and I count myself among their number), then the chances are you will know what to expect whenever you listen to a new band. Whether you are listening to The Foreshadowing, On Thorns I Lay, Amorphis or Paradise Lost, they will all sound different yet all carry the same style which you may not necessarily hear but will certainly feel. That feeling is there with Grimfaith also, a Ukrainian band singed with the almost faultlessly reliable Bad Mood Man arm of Solitude Productions. So, I love the genre, I particularly love the eastern European take on the genre and I’m a big fan of the label. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit as it turns out.
The main problem with this album hit me on the first listen, and although it had not struck me during the first proper track ‘Aberration’, by the end of ‘Preacher Creature’s 50 minute duration, I was climbing the walls and begging for the thing to end. If this album was being used as a torture device, I would have surrendered any information gladly just to make it stop. What is it then that could bring such a feeling of revulsion within me? Well it’s not the music, which is competently performed if not exactly outstanding. The keyboards do not swamp the rest of the music as can often be the case, and Igor Cherepanov’s guitars have some nice and meaty if unadventurous riffs. The main turn off here; and by Christ it is a turn off, is Ivan ‘Moregrim’ Cherednichenko’s vocals. Let me make one thing clear. Moregrim does not actually have a bad voice at all; there are far worse singers out there who have no business anywhere near a microphone. The problem we have here is a singer who is so confident and so enamoured with his own singing ability that he simply tries too damn hard. As a result his voice performs vocal acrobatics over every single bloody syllable, warbling and wavering all over the place, trying to use the full extent of his range often within the confines of a single word. It’s someone who in their head thinks that they sound like David Bowie at the peak of his powers, whilst actually sounding like an over-confident club singer. Until now I never actually believed in the phrase ‘less is more’, but Moregrim’s voice is the definitive definition of the phrase. If he could rein himself in a bit, (ok, a lot), then I expect he would be quite listenable.
It was quite surprising to note guest appearances from Draconian’s Anders Jacobsson, who provided the spoken word track ‘Creepy Crawlers’, and Lisa Johansson formerly of Draconian, who provided guest vocals on ‘Flower And The Bone’. I’ve always considered Lisa to be an excellent vocalist but the track was a waste of her considerable talent, confined as she is to a minor backing vocal role for the most part. I found this to be such an extremely uncomfortable listen that I only managed to listen to the album in its entirety once. In order to be able to listen to it again I had to break it down a couple of tracks at a time such was the extent of the cringe factor. If you crave a gothic doom fix there are so many other options out there to choose from. Pick any of them, but avoid this if you can.
(4/10 Lee Kimber)
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