Forum.RttP{GRAVESIDESERVICE REVIEW}

Rocky new ground. - 68%
Written by ForNaught on September 8th, 2009

The fusion of classical or at least neo-classical music with heavy metal is nothing new; many a group has trotted out the occasional Baroque period-inspired guitar solo, or indeed forged a career from their emulation of late greats. Perhaps it was inevitable, therefore, that this influence should creep into the realm of extreme metal. Whether it manifests itself in highly ornamented guitar passages or just the occasional ripping off of well-known classical melodies, this type of backward-looking fusion has acquired a fairly strong following, as well as its own host of clichés and standards. Gravesideservice’s first album, Masters in Lunacy, doesn’t really follow any of them. Rather than black metal with a veneer of classical music, this represents a true fusion, a new hybrid that is quite unlike either of its parents. It’s also quite a successful attempt at creating something interesting and unique, while still staying true to its roots. Sadly, what could be a really great release is marred by a small number of rather high-impact flaws.

The album opens rather lushly. A haunting piano refrain is presented, laid over the sound of rain in the woods—not just your run-of-the-mill stock atmospheric sample, but a genuinely involved one, interesting enough in its own right to be listened to alone. The texture and mood are both beautiful, and the latter is created effortlessly. It’s a very striking and effective is also rather pleasant, and heralds the beginning of the first full band piece on the album, the title track. Then the vocals begin, and the mood is ruined.

The vocal performance is in fact the worst aspect of this album. Fureva uses a variety of different styles, including high, harsh, shrieks, snarls, and growls, as well as some singing and spoken word. He never really fully commits to the harsh vocal styles, typically preferring to temper them with some melody. Sadly, his vocals sound unrehearsed and unprofessional. The higher pitches are extremely grating as well as weak-sounding, and the more melody-driven styles are rarely in key. I believe he was trying to create an atmosphere of madness, and indeed it is a truly demented-sounding performance. It sounds like he has been inspired by performances such as that of Atilla on DMDS, and possibly Varg’s on the self-titled Burzum album. I think I even detect a hint of the Silencer-type vocals here and there. On paper this should be great, as the performance is so diverse and varied and potentially so striking and gripping. Unfortunately, although it does sometimes work quite well, particularly where lower-pitched shouts and spoken vocals are employed, for the most part it sounds like a poor self-parody. It’s entirely possible that a similarly-presented performance could have worked far better on this release, but not without Fureva putting a great deal of work into strengthening his voice, acquiring a more confident and practiced sound, and performing a rigorous self-analysis to remove the styles and techniques that have ended up sounding more silly than sinister. Burying the vocals more in the mix would have helped, also—where this has been done on the release, the weaknesses of the performance are obscured and far less distracting.

That issue aside, the instrumental performances on this album are good. The drums have a very rich, natural sound and provide a very tasteful performance. There’s nothing too impressive, and there are a few minor playing/timing errors, but on the whole they do only good for the overall sound. The double-bass work in particular is very well utilised to inject a burst of energy and aggression during the faster or more violent tracts of the release. Techniques such as the marching snare at the start of Electroconvulsive Therapy and the pounding performance later in the same song also really enhance the sound. Since the music is keyboard-driven it could very easily have ended up sound anaemic or weak, but this is happily not the case, largely thanks to the percussion.

The real star of the album, however, is the keyboard. This is the lead (and usually sole) melodic voice of the band, since there are no guitars employed. The performance is a good one, largely due to the fact that it is nothing like keyboards in black metal usually turn out. The stripped-down nature of the release, which doesn’t even seem to have double-tracked the keys, means that there is no room for simple, repetitive melodies or sustained use of patches like warm pad, or everyone’s favourite, #53 - Aah Choir. He has also not made the mistake of trying to play riffs on the keyboard, instead opting for a more fluid, linear approach. He provides the listener with rich, complex pieces which encompass a wide range of styles, ranging from quite beautiful, mellow portions right through to frenetic, almost manic parts that really do capture the twisted spirit of black metal. Whether this can even be called metal without either electric guitar or riffs is doubtful, but that crucial feeling is certainly there.

Unfortunately, despite the high quality performances by both musicians, the lack of guitars is something that I feel keenly. Even though their omission was planned, and they were not just arbitrarily left out of pieces that were originally meant to include them, the heavier, faster portions such as most of Devil Made me Do It and much of the excellent title track really just scream out for a vicious, tremolo-picked buzzsaw guitar. Even if it was just providing a droning tone rather than actual riffs, it would really round out the sound and satisfy the need for filthy, distorted aggression that this album creates but does not placate. I feel their absence like a missing tooth—much as the tongue is ever drawn back to that sucking gap, so the ear craves guitar and bass. After a time, one becomes used to the lack, but it still seems somewhat odd and conspicuous by its absence whenever it is thought about.

The structure of the album as a whole is interesting—somewhat gimmicky, but it works for the most part. Every odd-numbered track is a short, numbered, keyboard-only piece, whereas the remaining tracks are the full songs to which the shorter pieces serve as introductions. They form complementary pairs, and although there is generally a distinct gap between introduction and main song, the flow is usually logical. The keyboard patch used in the instrumental is always the one that heralds the piece proper also, which is important on later pieces such as the organ-driven IV and Devil Made Me Do It and the gorgeous pairing of III and the introduction to Tackled and Shackled, which would both otherwise suffer from jarring transitions. Unfortunately, not all of the pairs feel like they belong together—II and Suicide Watch, for example, really don’t feel like partners so much as random throw-togethers. The album as a whole is brought together rather neatly, however, by the re-introduction of storm sounds similar to those of the first two tracks in the last “real” piece, Trephination. The internal structuring of the songs is generally good also, being quite linear and varied, but with each piece nevertheless having a strong, cohesive sound and identity. However, there are some ill-advised experiments with stopping and starting again in several of the pieces which hurt the flow of the individual songs. There are also a few big gaps at the end of pieces. It may have worked on Transilvanian Hunger, but it doesn’t work here, where the overall flow is compromised.

An exception to the structure is the “bonus” track, a lengthy work called Liturgy. This twenty-three minute behemoth is unfortunately both different and inferior to the rest of the content. It is chiefly composed of the vocalist apparently conducting a reading, allegedly in a graveyard—indeed, this does sound like a funeral mass. However, it is recorded poorly and mixed so that you can’t really hear what he’s saying. The music is mostly composed of piano, but it has acquired a slightly vague, background-sounding sound, far less dynamic and interesting than the rest of the album. As a result neither focussing on the music nor on the vocal is particularly satisfying. The track is mostly without drums, although what percussion is present is actually rather cool. Some very creepy group chanting at the end doesn’t save this piece from mediocrity. Still, I suppose that since it is labelled a bonus it was not intended to be considered as a part of the album proper.

The poor recording in Liturgy isn’t the only issue I have with the production of this release—regrettably, there are a couple of glitches and overloads in the sound, particularly during the otherwise beautiful III, and a less broken-sounding example in V. I’m not sure if this is a problem with recording or production, but it’s something that really takes away from these pieces. There are a few other little problems, such as a very sharp drop in the volume of the ambience between I and the title track which take away from the quality of the album’s sound. The production is otherwise fine, although the mix job sounds quite rough at times.

Masters in Lunacy is a promising album from a very creative and innovative band, and, musically speaking, a fine first release. Sadly, my enjoyment of it is tempered sorely by its flaws. Hopefully the band will manage to iron these out in later releases—to remark upon but one, I know that guitar is used on the next album, and from what I’ve heard this is really beneficial to the sound. This is certainly a group to watch; if they continue to go they way they seem to be going, this could be the start of something big.