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Grenouer: Lifelong days

28/09/09 || Trauma

Allow me to name off some world renowned musical acts from the city of St. Petersburg in the Russian Federation. — . Yeah, that’s how many there are. So color me extremely surprised to hear the kind of music to which I have been listening. To the extent of my knowledge (excluding world history), St. Petersburg is a place that breeds horny, attractive, bisexual women. Not that that’s so bad, mind you, but they (or one I called жвачное животное) don’t stick around with you as this music has been starting to do. I can now safely say that St. Petersburg to me is breeder to bisexual ladies and now Grenouer. A plane ticket is in order soon.

If you read about Grenouer, you’re going to hear a bunch of bands compared to which they sound very familiar (I checked out some early stuff and they were more death/black influenced, but they still retained the stuff that makes Grenouer themselves musically even today). So allow me to not be unique and state what the media is saying: Just kidding, fuck you, I don’t feel like telling you every band they sound like as background. You’re going to go check these guys out and find out for yourselves right the fuck now. They still sound like their own creation no matter what. You’re going to hear musical references or similarities to the bands these guys love, that’s no doubt. I can guarantee you they love Meshuggah, but there’s no stealing or cloning going on here.

Tracks that stand out the most usually have pretty catchy choruses. Take “Away from now”, for example. It starts off with a heavy, distorted riff, and the first vocal pattern over the following riff sounds to me eerily similar to Maynard James Keenan. It works out real nicely. Then they get into the chorus, and where you before had some syncopated, heavy riffing, you have a real nice melody with some added keyboards for atmosphere. Made me want to start singing along. Most of these songs will get you with some good hooks right off the bat, while a couple have them hiding where you least expect it. “Addicted to you”, starts off with some nice drum beats, and a welcome distorted bass/lead riff. Then all of a sudden it falls into the chorus and as much as I hate doing this I gotta say… it’s like a mix between Korn (more so at the 1:23 mark of “With no concern”) and Fear Factory — the good parts. It’s got some clean vocals that are “robotized”. “Taken off the list” gets off super catchy/heavy right off the bat, and every time it mellows down it only builds that anticipation to hear the opening riff again, which appears quite a bit. “Patience”, the closer, is like their ballad, a pretty mellow track with a simple and catchy chorus. The rest of the tracks are good, no doubt, but those tracks mentioned here are the highlights for me.

As a band, these four ugly Russians sound tighter than a sphincter in a prison shower given the sort of chaotic nature some of the riffs have. They experiment with polyrhythms, go through some odd-timing riffs, into some melody and back into the odd times flawlessly. They’ve definitely honed their craft, and I can only imagine their live show sounds as full of life as this album does. Each of the instruments sound real good. The guitar and bass are detuned (or using a 7-string guitar) and distorted to give just the right effect, no one instrument too high in the mix. The production is very good, and suits the music well. I really can’t find anything to nitpick here.

On my first listen, I wasn’t so stoked about the music. After the first couple of songs it started to sound like it wasn’t going anywhere. After properly giving it enough listens, though, I can say my first impressions were way off. They use recurring musical themes throughout the album, as one song has a riff that sounds like it’s a repeat from a previous track, then goes and does it’s own, new thing. I really like that in an album, when it’s got its own identity and not jumping around all over the place trying to see what sounds suit them. For my final words, this album is a fucken jewel, and a real grower. If you ever wanted to know what Meshuggah would sound like a little more accessible, this is it. I highly recommend this for purchase.

Recommended tracks: “Addicted to you”, “Away from now”, “Taken off the list”, “Patience”. You wouldn’t be too off the mark going for any others, though.

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Locomotive Records
Website: www.grenouer.com
Band
Ind: vocals
Motor: guitar
Slavij: bass
Grave: drums

Tracklist
1. Indecent loyalty
2. Addicted to you
3. Taken off the list
4. With no concern
5. Away from now
6. Finding the one
7. Off the back of others
8. The unexpected
9. Employed beggar
10. Re-Active
11. Patience

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