Grief of Emerald - The Devil's Deep [2011]

A more clear production quality, but the snare and toms really sit low in the mix, thus hurting the impact of blasts. Clearly, more effort went into the keys for this album than previous material. The beginning-middle section of "Famine" snapped me right out of my article-reading trance and immediately into the music. Unfortunately, it's been two songs since I was captivated like this... so it really doesn't have that catchy and shouty attitude. Nearly all of the Death Metal influence that I loved from Christian Termination is long gone, replaced by some more generic Black Metal. There's really nothing much that's unique about this album. A few risks here and there, but nothing substantial. I was really hoping for more... power and boldness.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.griefofemerald.se/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Grief of Emerald - Christian Termination [2002]

Nice and scathing start to the album. While "Alas, Spiriti Sancti" is certainly Black Metal, it has a wonderful tint of Death Metal to a few of the guitar parts. This album seems to be one of those secret gems... the beginnings of almost all of the songs are very weak, but wait it out for about forty seconds and all hell is brutally delivered to your fucking face. The guitar riffs, once the real shit storm begins, are WONDERFULLY brutal and merciless. However, they are too often repeated ad nauseum in their respective songs. Sure, this is a victim of quite a few standard problems when talking about Black Metal bands... no variation in style, a bit drawn-out, production could be better, etc. However, I do like much of the writing style and it's definitely got bigger potential for even more energy if the production and songwriting are polished up.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.griefofemerald.se/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Grief of Emerald - Malformed Seed [2000]

Very appealing old-school Black Metal keys combined with some more modern guitar riffing and the high-reverb production qualities of yesteryear. It certainly creates the dark and grind-stone atmosphere of Black Metal that I love so much. Beyond that, it's all fairly straight-forward and what I would expect from this type of band. No risks taken. Though, the material is pretty catchy at times.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.griefofemerald.se/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.