STONE RAM — GrauzaM (review)

STONE RAM — GrauzaM album cover EP · 2018 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
One of the newer mystery bands out there, STONE RAM has only released a few singles in 2019 followed by this short three track EP titled “GrauzaM” which i assume refers to the German word “grausam” which means “cruel, horrible.”

Absolutely no info on this band but i sampled this short EP on its Bandcamp page just to check out some new sounds from far flung places. This band comes from Montrose, CO which is located in the western part of the state.

This band is also difficult to describe since all three of the tracks are completely different but each exciting enough that i really want to hear a full album from this guys. While the album cover resembles a typical black metal band, this group is anything but.

The opening “The Darkest Life I’ve Ever Known” is a gloomy dark ambient track with moaning synthesizer sounds and ghoulish whispers emerging from the darkness. A pretty cool opener for sure. It sounds like dude is “ghouling” in German but i’m not sure.

“Primal Obsession” is a riff based track. While the atmosphere is more in the black metal world, the riff is rather melodic and more like melo-death metal but really slowed down to mid-tempo while dude’s vocals are sort of croaking along in a semi-spoken manner. The drums lazily accompany the guitar but also provide some fills. There are spoken word samples that remind me of Skinny Puppy or Ministry so there is an industrial feel but the track then changes into a death metal styled riff session only with black metal creepiness. The process repeats.

“Till Fjell In Kaldt Av Gunnen” is the longest track but less than five minutes. It starts out with more film samples but then turns into a caustic black metal type of track with slow plodding guitar riffs and a slow drumbeat to match. The vocals are submerged beneath the din and are barely audible while the receptive guitar riffs hypnotizes. After the intro starts to seem like its dragging for too long, the steam picks up and the track flirts with death metal riffing along with some folky elements that sounds like Tyr but alternates between these. After an atmospheric ambient break with some Darth Vader breathing back to death metal business only once again it’s an interesting hybrid between death and black with the folk musical scales.

This one really makes me want to hear more! These musicians present many great ideas on this short 10 minute and 11 second EP that makes me excited to hear any potential debut album that will emerge. They got something that many are lacking and i can hear the potential oozing from its blackened pimply pores!
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