Review Summary: A testament to filth…
Genre-melding, polarising – Greber’s 2018 sophomore record brings a visceral edge to modern day sludge while showcasing a typical by the books style to their music.
Cemetery Preston is a raw, yet expansive record bringing together elements of doom, sludge, hardcore, grind and even sparingly, atmospheric post metal. Considering the resume of styles this Ontario duo (featuring ex-members of F
uck The Facts) showcase on a single album, it becomes easy to understand just how this expansive range of sounds can captivate the listener - even if it’s in a completely filthy way…
At its core,
Cemetery Preston drags along, without becoming slow or hesitant, contrasting with the album’s more upbeat passages (“Our Burnt Treasure”), revelling in actual audible bass. There’s a lot of low end found within the sombre doom-laced sludge fests and then again in the chaotic, frenzied grind. It in turn wraps around the listeners’ subconscious, creating pressure while somehow releasing tension. Once again I find myself describing how an album makes you feel, rather than how it sounds. When this album is picked apart, each contrasting soundscape plays a bigger part. No single component is like the next instead, each section and nuance builds off its predeceasing parts to make a sound subtly different from similar acts. The album’s opening track, ‘Backhanded Interest’ is a particular offsetting introduction to
Cemetery Preston. At a stylistic standpoint, the track itself lends itself to a range of the already mentioned genre-styles. It’s by no means the perfect entry to this band accentuated by its jarring shifts and natural progression, but it’s a definite indicator of how this Ontario duo can acclimatise to the different. Making it an excellent explorative piece on
Cemetery Preston, if not a definitive highlight of this particular record.
Overall I’ve not been blown away by this year’s album releases. It seems that
Cemetery Preston is yet another album that falls short of that particular mark. For what it’s worth, Greber have released one hell of a record in the form of
Cemetery Preston, crushing and smashing its way through its thirty-six minute run time. Chances are that in a few short years we’ll have an album of epic proportions if they only stay the course.
