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23 Feb 2018

Grift: "Arvet"


Contemplative style-defying music
Grift, the project founded and maintained by Erik Gärdefors since 2011, has always marked itself as an endeavour that wholeheartedly belongs to neither a pure metal or rock ethos. In that regard, Grift seems like a symbol of the direction of contemporary music, mixing typically oppositional elements of desperate black metal, airy post rock and sombre dark folk with just a sprinkle of shoegaze in a conglomerate that could best be described merely as 'art'.
"...the general emotion isn't that of carelessness and abandon, but rather of hopelessness and the feeling of frustration."

Arvet, the second true full length album from the project, is permeated by an atmosphere of melancholy and saturated by moods that border the depressive side of things. There's a certain nihilistic approach to be heard, but at the same time the general emotion isn't that of carelessness and abandon, but rather of hopelessness and the feeling of frustration. The mental landscape brought to unlife by Grift is dark, damp and cold.

Musically there is a lot to experience through the works of Grift. Because the wild tremolo passages are so far apart and carefully built up to, the contrast between those and the remaining universe of sounds stands that much starker. The stylistic question posed by Arvet is really that of an aesthetic. The melodies are enticing enough in their own right, and the off-handed chords work well with the lighter overtones and melancholic, desperate voices, but if the general feeling doesn't move you in the slightest, there may not be much for you here. It's an album that really depends on the mind set of the listener, but just the track Utdöingsbygd is enough to make clear that Arvet is definitely an album that could easily stand the test of time and come out victorious in all its tenebrous nihility.

8/10


Released in 2017 by Nordvis Produktion

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