Grim Crypt is certainly a challenging listen. This album, much like its chaotic cover art, is a real struggle due to its jarring and erratic genre shifts. One moment you’re caught in a thrashy metal storm, and the next you’re hit with laid-back jam sessions, only to be thrown back into intense metal chaos again. The genre blending isn’t inherently bad, but the transitions are so abrupt and poorly executed that they completely throw the entire album out of sync. The result is a listening experience that feels disjointed and out of balance, making this 30-minute album drag on for what feels like an hour.
The instrumentation, for the most part, is dominated by guitars, with drums and bass taking a backseat to the point of near invisibility. The drums are almost drowned out entirely, offering little more than a basic backbone to the tracks. If you were to remove them, it would barely make a difference. The bass suffers the same fate—underwhelming and barely noticeable. This gives the album a DIY feel, but not in a good way. The production is unpolished, and the mixing is incredibly off. The instruments sound muffled, with everything buried in the mix except for the guitars, which are painfully loud and scream at you in an almost aggressive way.
The vocals, when they do appear, are just as disorienting. They range from deep, guttural grunts to softer, more melodic singing, but they never seem to fit with the music. The lack of cohesion between the vocals and the instrumental tracks makes them more of a distraction than an addition to the songs. It’s hard to follow the flow of any track with vocals that feel so out of place.
As for the guitars, they’re probably the strongest element of the album, though that’s not saying much. The riffs are repetitive and simplistic, and the tuning is off, making it a chore to sit through. While it’s clear the guitarist has some skill, the execution leaves much to be desired. Credit where credit’s due for attempting this all on his own, but there’s a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of musicality, production, and overall coherence.
RATING: 3/10
NOTIABLE TRACKS:
Havoc
Whirlwind