Thick crushing power drives you through your seat as the opening/title song of Groms album Ascension flows out of your speakers! Then before you know it you are thrown into a mysterious sounding guitar harmony that only a Norwegian band could come up with. The double bass drumming comes in and is shortly followed by dark baritone growling. Very thick powerful guitars lead you through nine songs of amazing musicianship with a driving low end that you can really feel. A great work musically! So many guitar harmonies that you would think they would run out of note combinations, but the amazement keeps coming song after song as you listen to one of the hardest to classify albums out right now.
Due to the low growls many people would assume from the start that Groms is a death metal band, but no, there is much more to Groms than that. Their production/ guitar sound would lead you to believe that they are a power/groove metal band. But then in come the crushing one note riffs that you expect from hardcore... Groms is truly an original sounding band, that will leave any one with an ear for talent longing for more.
"So what is Groms? Give me a label?" Searching for one I come to a loss, because there is so much to this band, yet an incredible consistency from song to song. The best I can come up with is (check this one out): "power-groove-death." If you want a comparison to secular stuff it's like Entombed/6 Feet Under/Pantera/Grave with one of the best death vocalists I've ever heard.
There are many high points on the album, but here are a few songs that need special mention. "True Wisdom" lyrically sums up the entire album with "Who is like the wise man? He knows what wisdom is: To love and fear God, the author and creator." The music to that song is very cool. It starts off with a dark clean guitar and then the distortion comes in with the dark clean part still in the back ground. The vocals, as the first verse comes, in are awestriking! It shakes your soul as his voice thunders over the mix. The song that most people, who have heard the album, like is the song "Noone." It has a very catchy hardcore feel to the chorus. The lyrics are straight to the point, and God focused. After all Groms means "God Rules Over My Soul."
Ascension is only lacking in one area. The drums on the album are very simple, and there are not many changes. There is plenty of Straight double bass, but no blast-beats as many would hope from a death band. Most of the drums are at a moderate pace, leaving the intricate guitar parts to make up for the speed.
I really like the production of this album. As I mentioned the guitars sound very thick, and everything blends very well. For those of you who like a powerful rumble in your music I've only heard one album with more (Jesus Freaks' self-titled sophomore release). The bass drum has a very powerful punch to it, which is really cool for the double bass parts. If you have good stereo your house will rumble when you throw this CD on!
The CD contains the 8 songs that make up the album Ascension plus one song at the end that had been recorded a few months prior to the rest of the album, making a total of 9 songs. The CD is $20+ because it is an import, but well worth it in my opinion. If you don't want to spend that much, 3 of the songs appear on a Rowe comp titled Northern Lights. The CD features Groms and 3 other Norwegian bands. All the bands have 3 songs for a total of 12 tracks. It is a very good CD. You should be able to get that for $18 (sorry also an import).
9/10
Other Staff Member Ratings
Fletch: 8/10
D_Lister: 10/10
Grindboy: 10/10
Much: 6/10
HadeSlayeR: 6/10
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by sesspoolWOW! This album rocks a lot more than it has to. For all those who listen for old death metal in Christian music and can't find it... look no further (however, good luck finding this album). This album has some fantastic music and very good lyrics. At the time of this review I'm at work and I just have the cd here... not the lyric sheet. I regret this as I would love to quote some of the lyrics…Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by NecRoSarXHere, I've compiled a list of why you should try your darnedest to find this CD: 1) It's death metal from Norway, where they know what death metal tastes like. 2) It's really well-played death metal, at that. Not only does the sound pretty much crush your esophagus as the thick guitars and drums churn out the speakers, the vocals are the best I've heard this side of the Atlantic. They don't sound…Heaven's Metal #52Reviewed by Anders Joh BlistenGROMS from Norway have become a first-class Christian metal band. I thought I would hear more demos from the band after reviewing their last demo in the Fall. I was wrong. Now they are back with a full-length CD packed with earth-shaking, brutal and awesome death metal. GROMS, which is an acronym for "God Rules Over My Soul," have done things right since Turn. The band is now reduced to four…Similar sounding releases
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