Tuesday 24 May 2022

Grayscale Season - Do You Like Violence (Review by Jesper Johansson Jungermark)


Labels: Self-Released

Formats: Digital

Release Date: 15 Apr 2022


Tracklist:


1. Pink Mist

2. Volatile

3. Champagne Tears

4. Luxury Depression

5. Calm

6. Violence

7. Slow Emotions

8. Side Effects

9. Summer

10. Pillow Grin

11. Human Resources

12. End Sequence

13. Now Let's Make Those Teeth Leave Your Pretty Mouth


Over recent years I've welcomed some great guest writers from different corners of the world, who have brought their own enthusiasm to this blog, especially when writing about bands from their locality or country. A little while ago, I was contacted by my friend Jesper from Sweden (of the bands Young Mountain and Nathan Aeli!) as he wanted to write and share a review of the newest record from Swedish metalcore band Grayscale Season, which is called Do You Like Violence. I couldn't be happier to have him as a guest and without further rambling, here's his track-by-track review...


1. Pink Mist


The homage of starting a track with saying the title of it, especially in the beginning, can get blunt. It’s a thing I rarely experience these days and it’s nice to see such old twists still linger on. At the first listen this song kicked me in the face, from it’s start to mid-section it goes from a opera-esque modern melodramatic musical piece to a hard-hitting ”you will die with my fist inside your kranium” kinda feel. 


2. Volatile


Again referring to the violent shift in focus, this track immediately takes you on your very own ride to meet the executioner. Bludgeoning guitars, heavy as the weight of a thousand boulders all about to smash you right into the mundane Monday oblivion. Nothing has ever ringed so true as these shifts, between a feeling that everything will fit into its right place and eventually feel fine. That is, until the next riff pulls the carpet beneath you again for another shade to appear. The thickest and filthiest of tar is now all around you and there is no rescue in sight. 


3. Champagne Tears


I have never properly played basketball but I imagine this to be a perfect soundtrack to that exercise. This is the bounciest of boys, ”10/10 turn-your-cap-backwards-and-smash-your-head -in-asphalt” kinda feel. No questions asked, just this feeling and excruciating pain. Nu-metal is on the rise and this tune got drenched in a rainbow. 


4. Luxury Depression


In the mid of 2021 I got called in to work on a music video concept together with my friend Jakob Ivar Ekvall of Lykantrop, an independent movie company hailing from Gothenburg. I remember us sitting in my old van, preparing to do some stupid-shit-fulfilling-creative-idea like we always do, and he said that he’d been approached by this band that was really open-minded to doing something different with their aesthetics. Being who we are, connoisseurs of the obscure / idiots with imagination, we began to discuss the texture of the song. How did it translate from it’s audio to a visual being? The continuous bend in song structure felt metallic and on the verge of breaking, but it never really did. The song was ”Luxury Depression” and a part of the visual mold was cast. This was the song that drew me in and made me enthusiastic about the band, a display of true potential to what the extreme of metal and composition can aspire to be. 


5. Calm


2010 called and says it’s philosophical blend of christian metalcore has gone and dated that hot nu-metal kid on the block. This track isn’t the definition of calm, It’s a composition quickly changing, forever figuring out the next move to turn it’s own torso in the opposite direction. 


6. Violence


Suddenly the album takes a different route, this is the boldest sway from the actual narrative I’ve heard on the album, stripping the soundscape down to simplicity itself accompanied by synths and mellow piano, even doh this is one of the weaker openings to it’s siblings, it transcends the expectations to where it could’ve ever gone. 


At 1.40 the vocals gets processed in a way that reminds me of the 90’s strikingly raw industrial scene spear-headed by the likes of Trent Reznor, and Rammstein. The song structure reminds me if the band Health and the way Adam sings reminds me of the tone of Chet Bakers voice. A tasteful and unique blend to the palette that is alternative metal, expanding the ”acceptable” and elitistic thought that artists have to choose a spectrum where they can place their creations. The future is genre-fluid. 


7. Slow Emotions


If there’s one place where I get to critique the mix, then this is where, the first guitar riff is way too stringy and motionless. When the rest of the instruments kick in we are back where we were, at a place of sonic distress, a never-ending cardiac arrest plunging through the cortex. I smiled so hard that I had to rewind 15 seconds when the ”wooh” (at 2.37) teleported me back to my first introduction to the early Swedish metalcore scene, containing bands like Walking With Strangers, Yersinia, Aim For The Sunrise, Adept and Path Of No Return to mention a few. What flashed before my eyes was the phenomena where guitarists or bassist would write funny little words or short sentences like ”Let’s Mosh” or ”Fuck” on the backside of their instruments and flip them over before a breakdown section. I imagine Grayscale Season doing the same in this part, if not then I’ll have to take a permanent marker to the backside of Adams bass. 


8. Side Effects


Not often do you come across certain vocalists with this feral viciousness in their tone. This is one of the strongest compositions of ”Do You Like Violence”. The djenty / nu-metal groove escalates into the heavens and strikes down on earth with every shift of velocity they can. Listening to this track feels like a sentence in the likes of divine judgement. At 2:00 the archangels of God tares your psyche open only to spit right into your brain cavities at 2.25. This is a composition worthy to dethrone the likes of man. Ridiculously anthemic, maybe the most solid and brilliant song on this album. 


9. Summer


Leaving no time to breath, ”Summer” attacks and draws first blood on your throat. It’s coming for you. A paranoid and stifling vibe ache through this work and it shines through with genuine curiosity that you can still create heart-wrenching music with the help of a pair of strings. 2:23 sends absolute shivers down my spine, the homage of a classic Swedish folk song takes new life in a modern surge for the will to renew oneself as the flowers of autumn. I find great  joy in bands that dare to show off their origin. All countries have their own rich culture to share across the world and the bands that dream to spread it are the bravest. 


10. Pillow Grin


I’m running out of words to say. This is such an intense album. Filled to the brim with individuality and extravaganza. Some of you might not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like. 


11. Human Resources


One of the more pure beatdown / deathcore-esque tracks, in the vein of bands like The Acacia Strain, The Red Shore and early Suicide Silence but with a new sense of virility. It’s a mix of all parts, the above and in addition some more groove. The last haft of this track is what gets my little dead-and gone-despised-icon-loving-heart going. A fresh take on a long deceased art-form way too dominated by horrible lyrics. 


12. End Sequence


Back to the musical variation, the immense range of both vocalists are showing off their brightest colours in this last of love songs in the fold.  The sample at 2:45 is equal with the quality of ”Suffocate For Fuck Sake”s most renowned creation ”Blazing Fires…” and to draw that likeness is to touch greatness.  There is no hope left, only abandon, and how do we navigate in all that despair? Listen to ”End Sequence” and find out. 


13. Now Let’s Make Those Teeth Leave Your Pretty Mouth


Like a mixture between ”The 1975”, ”Evanescence”, ”The Mars Volta” and ”Saosin” this very last voyage of tears drying in the sand takes us to the end. No more goodbyes. All that’s been said is said and there’s no possible change to be done. It’s been a fuck of a ride and I’m on my second way around the merry-go-ride about to take a third. I don’t care if I puke. I’m just so very, very, happy that this album ever saw the light of creation.


For Fans Of: Car Bomb, Frontierer, The Acacia Strain, Adept and The Mars Volta


You can stream and purchase Do You Like Violence digitally from Grayscale Season below:-



Grayscale Season - https://www.facebook.com/GrayscaleSeason


I just want to end this post by saying a massive thank you to Jesper for taking time out to write this review and for allowing me to publish it. You're welcome back anytime!

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