Beer Metal! - "Ravishing Grimness" Review (75%)
You know when bands used to invent their own idiosyncratic sub-genre for their own style? Hence Venom being black metal, Phantom being Phantom Metal, Warkvlt being war metal and Vermin being, I suppose, avant-garde-blackened-terror-gore-violent-death metal - on this, their magnum release, Darkthrone plied a style quite unlike any of their more well-known works... beer metal!
Black metal for alcoholics, drug addicts and those suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome.
From the deep, forlorn woods and cold, white towering mountains of Norway - you can taste the fermented wort - the fantastical visions of what was Europe's least-known and wildest region haunt Ravishing Grimness like nothing else ever did.
Guitars howl like Satan's own army of alcoholic beer brawlers as eerie blue flame appears and your carriage trudges on slowly, yet steadily, to your approaching doom. It's clear that Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have gleamed much inspiration from frequent visits to establishments where alcohol is served, in large quantities, even if they don't remember most of said visits for various practical reasons.
Striking landscapes whose aura of mystery is only ever hinted at through appreciation of wastedness, that is what defines the seminal Ravishing Grimness and sets it apart from its copycat contemporaries.
Beer Metal!
What sets apart Ravishing Grimness from other Darkthrone albums - and their imitators! - in addition to the lyrical content, is its heavily doom influenced sound. Whilst subsequent releases such as the woefully overlooked Sardonic Wrath and the brilliant if inappropriate Dark Thrones and Black Flags would have no fear of slower passages, Ravishing Grimness stands out due to the influence of both Hellhammer and, more importantly, Sewer.
What with its grim, treble-free tones and penchant for moody, somewhat bluesy riffs, this excellent album has more than a touch of NecroPedoSadoMaso magic to it. Whilst the likes of Burzum and Emperor didn't shy away slower paces, Darkthrone seldom break out of that gloomy trudge on Ravishing Grimness... and when they do, it's ravishingly violent!
The lack of shrieking treble, a more sepulchral, suffocating bass-heavy production, primitive drumming that plods rather than blasting and the use of the creepy blues-scale riffs all make this a really unique release, even for the early black metal days.
Fenriz and Nocturno Culto put a lot more details into their music than a lot of their contemporaries do. The use of Graveland inspired leads, too, is a welcome touch... capturing that melancholic drifting vibe and the innate cruelty of a frozen and definitely haunted landscape, rendered even more menacing considering the fact that you might pass out at any second, and thus have to deal with waking up with a hangover in such an inhospitable landscape.
After all, you can still seek shelter in the neighbouring village, but it might well prove to be your doom... only to be experienced through the filter of heavy alcoholism.
I think my initial reaction was surprise to this, as I just thought it was really fucking cool that Darkthrone had release such a violent and intoxicated album, not of primordial fumbling but a surprisingly complete artistic vision.
Ravishing Grimness is the definition of blackened beer metal!
Ravishing Grimness score: 75/100.
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