Review Summary: Grave Pilgrim shakes off their sophomore slump
In the world of KPN-inspired black metal there are just some bands that have the sauce. Grave Pilgrim, much like early Ungfell, successfully captured that folky, spindly and tortured flavor early in their careers. Drawing from their stated Francophile inspiration and injecting it with noticeably American folk stylings has worked well for Oregon’s two-piece band Grave Pilgrim on their excellent self-titled debut, and reasonably well on the follow up EP
Molten Hands Reach West. But the decision to channel their sound into a rawer direction on 2023’s
The Bigotry of Purpose led to an overall weaker and less memorable album. So where does their latest outing,
The Pungent Wine of Pride land on this spectrum? Well in my opinion it’s a step up from their last album, but still a stride behind where they started.
What’s immediately apparent about
The Pungent Wine of Pride is that the fun is back. “Ceaser in Agony” kicks off the album and features punky, triumphant riffing and tearing solos backed by galloping drums, wretched vocals and deeply buried synths. Oh, and some opera, just like on the last album, so be prepared.
This formula essentially carries the day for the majority of the album’s runtime, allowing listeners a sense of whether this is an album they’ll enjoy or not within the first few minutes. It’s an agreeable mixture, but one that rarely changes, to the detriment of the album overall. It would have been nice to hear some additional folky passages in addition to the raw black and punky stompers or other experimentation.
Which isn’t to say those elements are completely absent. One of the most interesting songs on this album is “The Master’s Son” which sees the band laying down a folky guitar riff while a prima donna operatically swoons overtop before gut-wrenching vocals and sporadic drums come in to complete the bacchanalian madness. It’s a hypnotizing interlude for the album and provides one of its most memorable segments. This rolls into the nearly equally memorable title track replete with whirling and spiraling sinister guitars before eventually returning to the mean with pummeling raw black metal and synths. However, even with all of this, the title track at nine minutes in length does feel like it sticks around just a hair too long. It’s a problem that runs throughout the album. There’s just not quite enough interesting musical ideas or experimentation to really boost this album from the solidly compelling to the excellent.
The lyrical themes of
The Pungent Wine of Pride however are quite an interesting piece of this record. Styled as the second installation in a trilogy inspired by the German philosopher Nietzsche, the lyrics deal with the ecstasy and pitfalls of overcoming oneself and attempting to become sovereign in a pleasantly flowery yet straightforward way. Those more versed in philosophy than I will probably have some interesting meat to sink their teeth into here.
On balance,
The Pungent Wine of Pride is a solid outing from one of the Pacific Northwest’s more interesting acts. It successfully balances its European inspiration with American sensibilities and suitable rawness and intensity. While a bit more musical experimentation and perhaps trimming would have been nice, I think this is a great album and one that I’ll certainly be returning to.
