Grá – Lycaon
Release Date: 13th January 2023
Label: Avantgarde Music
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Black n Roll.
FFO: Satyricon, Dark Funeral, Khold.
Review By: Rick Farley
Vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Heljarmadr (Dark Funeral), along with drummer Dimman, formed the ever evolving Swedish black metal band Grá in 2010. Since their inception, the band has shaped their music to be an interpretation of the genre’s classic sound while trying to maintain the core integrity of Swedish black metal. Pushing the boundaries of what the bands current release is supposed to sound like, they go the opposite direction of their last record, Vässen, and reinvent themselves again. Lycaon marks the bands fourth full length album and first with Avantgarde Music. Adding bassist Vediger in 2016 and guitarist Niklas in 2022, Grá is set to light the blackened world afire.
Lycaon is a progressive evolution of the band to the Swedish melodic death metal side of things with a healthy dose of black and roll swagger. Album opener White City Devil heavily leans more towards Dark Tranquillity than it does anything on the black metal side of things. It’s not really until around the 2:30 mark, before it goes the route of anything resembling black metal. That’s not necessarily a negative thing, but being new to the band, it threw me off a little. The second track, Flame of Hephaestus, is an absolute killer of black n roll and straight up darkness. Heljarmadr’s croaking gutturals snarl with recognizable cadence. The song has a slightly 70s progressive rock feel to certain parts of the riffs that flow well with the darker tremolo picked version of the same melody. The bass pulsates underneath with a chord progression that leads straight into blasting and jagged, icy guitars. Just my humble opinion, but the album would have been better suited with this as the opener. Chariot of Fire is a scorching cover of Bathory. Ripping and tearing its punky black stylings with a fierceness to match the original. The solo is unusually loud in the mix, but this is still a pretty badass cover song. Ett Avskedsbrev is another black n roll type of attack with a heavy bass only riff and tribal sounding drums to kick it off. The track spins into a heavy metal groove that sounds sleazy and menacing. Gang vocals shouting out every other verse is an extremely cool touch. Brännmärkt is a wicked sludgy piece of darkness that sluggishly drones towards a bouncy, menacing riff. The bass is thick, giving the swampiness extra murk. Swirling guitar melodies pave way to a slow chugging guitar. The frantic tremolo picked melodies over top, swarming like a thousand locusts, carry the track back to the opening chords.
Overall, this is a solid album that I enjoyed, but to call the entirety of this particular release black metal might be a bit of a stretch. There’s a ton of variety and influences to sink your teeth into, possibly too many. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no purist that’s still stuck in the 90s or has blind worship of only the second wave of bands. The issue here is, after visiting Grá’s back catalogue, this one seems like a step away from black metal more so than an evolution. Again, that’s not a terrible thing, considering the songs here are all quite good. If you’re already a fan, Lycaon could come across as feeling unfocused, but definitely check it out with an open mind. It’s still a damn good metal album. 
(3.5 / 5)
