Excellent USBM – 85%
Melganiks, December 1st, 2007
Grand Belial’s Key (GBK) is a fairly popular USBM act, and in my opinion, probably one of the best. Their strong sense of melody, catchiness and the lack of the (in)famous depressive/suicidal black metal sound that most USBM bands like to utilize. This makes them easily stand out amongst the crowd of USBM groups that dawn on the black metal scene today.
Onto the album, and the lyrical themes, which are clear cut Satanism, and the anti-Christian attitude that comes with it. With the track titles (example: Satanicunt) this may seem very juvenile and very insincere, but from the first track, GBK breaks that thought. The lyrics are pure satire and in a way show sincerity with the entire band’s hatred of everything Christian, but, the lyrics are driven by the music.
The music is the highlight. GBK has everything that a black metal fan would desire in an album. Production job which you can hear everything, except the bass, drums that remain vicious throughout the album’s 45 minute playing time, riffs and solos that display an atmosphere and perhaps an undesirable trait for some, melody. Melody has always been controversial in the black metal scene, due to its use by the ‘pop’ black metal bands. Some claim it just isn’t dirty and raw enough for a genre like black metal, but GBK is one of the bands who can counter this trap. GBK have found a perfect balance, they have both the desirable ‘dirty’ sound that some may like their black metal dirty, and they have the melody for those who prefer melody. Surely, it’s much more complex than that, but, with catering to both opposites spectrum of the black metal spectrum, GBK have made a recorded likable by each sect of black metal.
So, the band has the elements down, can they act upon them? The simple answer is fuck yes they can. Each member of the band make a near perfect blend of this ‘darkened dirty melodic black metal’ with their assigned instruments, but the vocals are a different story.
The Black Lourde of Crucifixion does fairly competent vocals, which is the only flawed part of this album (and the reason it lost 15 points.) He does some very average black metal shrieks and such, and on an album where everything is standing on perfect status, a flaw that lasts the whole album can devastate its effectiveness as an album.
The guitars are pummeling, the bass is nonexistent, and there are a couple of solos, which should catch you by surprise if you don’t expect them all to much in black metal, but nothing is too showy, and everything is just set into perfection. The drumming never overtakes the guitar’s dominance over everything, and stands clearly audible in the background. GBK’s stellar production on this album clearly avoids the all too common problem of the drums just being at the forefront and ruining the guitars.
Giving this a listen will not hurt anyone; it is musically perfect black metal album, only ruined by some average vocals. At a playing time of 45 minutes, it should not bore you in any manner by being an hour long album fare, or some big commitment. Recommended for anyone who seeks some good black metal and perhaps some USBM that isn’t suicidal/depressive black metal.
rafazardly 