GRIN - Acid Gods - Metal Epidemic

GRIN – Acid Gods
Release Date: 30th May 2025
Label: The Lasting Dose Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Heavy Psych-Doom, Sludge, Stoner.
FFO: Conan, Domkraft, Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Froglord.
Review By: Mark Young

I genuinely love it when music like this just appears out of nowhere and is great. Grin manage to achieve an impressive amount with just two members, sticking to a bass-and-drums setup that stays incredibly tight, even with the thick, sludgy atmosphere. I was expecting your typical sludge/doom fare, but this goes way beyond that. The opener has a hypnotic, trance-like quality, and Black Dye instantly brought Ministry’s Scarecrow to mind with its stripped-back yet expertly executed arrangement. Digging deeper into the sound, there’s a spacey undercurrent that adds a whole new dimension to the listening experience and for me sets them apart from others in the same field. The riffs continue unabated, with Nocturno rumbling into view with a storming bit of riffology. It is a belter, and the pair of Jan (drums, vocals) and Sabine (bass) are locked together, knowing where to ease back and where to fill in. That spacey undercurrent is still present, just bubbling away, but enough to give it that certain sheen.

On later tracks such as Crystals, they go down the filthy route with a song that is built for dancing, especially in a sweaty underground club. It’s based around a solid yet simple arrangement, whilst Unshut amps up that spacey feel again with an Eastern tinge. Their tone is massive, absolutely massive, and it would be something to catch them live to see them replicate it in that arena. Like Crystals (and the others) they haven’t tried to overcomplicate anything and yet have avoided repetition or loss of engagement. Both play their parts incredibly well, and it is difficult to pull a high point from the songs here because to be honest there is no drop in quality, and they keep that quality going to the end with a one-two of Nebulas and Heavy Dew. Both are sub-three minutes long, and it works in their favour. Nebulas is the mover, looking to shake things up whilst Heavy Dew has more of a staggering arrangement to it, like it has had one too many but still has a sense of groove about it.

I’ve mentioned before that it’s sometimes difficult to write a review where the songs are consistently good because you can run out of things to say, or at least ways of saying it. I’ve reviewed quite a bit of doom/sludge this year, and in each case the music has varied between ok and great, but what hasn’t altered is the core instruments involved. What Grin manage to do with just two people puts a lot of those other bands to shame. There is a keen eye for what makes a good riff, and these two have that nailed. Each of the ten songs has a ‘oh get in’ riff, which for me makes the review so much easier because of the quality of those riffs.

Love riffs? Love massive tones? Extreme singing? Step right up.