Black metal has certainly made a huge impact on me during 2020, which maybe an indication of my overall mood at how it has gone. Pandemic or not the genre has produced some truly staggering albums a handful of which made my top 20, as I could easily have inserted this third album into my list.
With the black metal genre being polluted by various subgenre corruptions receiving this fine digipak set the record straight on how the nihilistic genre should be played with unadulterated primal battering savagery. There’s no tepid intro for this release instead ‘Jajempriester’ shatters your fragility with a blistering caustic riff and subsequent blast beat. Within their firestorm riffing the band injects a filthy style that Carpathian Forest fans will hook into as the album continues with ‘Affreus.Infaam.Abject’ producing some catchy segments that will tear off your face with maniacal glee. Indeed that catchiness manifests periodically as old school metal sewerage akin to D-beat and crust punk styles but it is very subtly ingrained.
The short inhuman unfettered annihilation of ‘De Bijlman Van Trecht’ mauls the listener with some of the fastest blasting I’ve heard outside of the grind scene. The rabid carnage really imprints especially when the song breaks for a cool catchiness that sends you reeling. However whilst much of this album is about skin flaying demolition there are more tempered moments as on ‘De Kinderen Branden’ which harnesses a doomier approach after the eerie atmospheric opening. Unsurprisingly it does intensify which you would expect as the song layers on the brutality with each passing second.
I did prefer the all-out violent velocity workouts however as this is where the bands strength lies, but the breaking up that ferocity is done with considerable aplomb on ‘De Bakboordshand’ where the drop in speed is accompanied by an accordion which really catches you out but is situated superbly towards the climax of the track. That D-beat influence is apparent from the off on ‘Bijbelgordelgesel’ where the brief drum commencement swerves into a blackened storm.
First up of a doublet that closes the album is ‘Maak Het Kort’ with an onslaught of ruthless riffing and insane speed, whereas the closing tune ‘Kolkgat’ is more complex and slower. The start is distinctly oppressive with a slower pace that reeks of tension beore it unleashes a cracking bass riff that claws at you, grabbing hold and not letting go. With whispered vocals added the song has a menacing intimidating aura before the riff deviation skewers with potent noxiousness as that intensity steadily ramps up in the songs corrosive finale.
Pernicious and possessed with a malicious homicidal streak, Grafjammer’s third album is the perfect antidote to this year’s misgivings with a scathing breathless begriming obliteration.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
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