Band: GRIDE
Country: Czech Republic
Title: Hluboká temná modř
Label: L'Inphantile Collective
Year: 2020
Style: Grindcore

Review:
Wow, Czech Gride are reaching 25 years of activity this year! Fantastic, that shows these guys' immense passion for Grindcore, but that's not very uncommon for this genre I believe, once you get the "virus" you can hardly ditch it, and most of the time it never disappears. At the time of the recordings for this EP (2019), the band was a quintet, but at the moment they remained a trio, not sure if they are looking for replacements but what's for sure is they keep moving forward. 
So, as I said this EP was recorded in 2019 and features 7 new short tracks, only the last one of them being over 2 minutes in duration, and beside it the band also included some previously released tracks from the split with Sidetracked from 2014 and the split with Thema Eleven from 2009, this makes the record a perfect opportunity to meet the band's music in various periods and get a clearer idea on what they are all about. I can tell you there are no huge differences between the different time periods, the band's music was and still is extremely energetic, angry, expressive, with plenty of experimentation thrown in all the time, quite progressive I'd say, or at least technical to the bone, not just simple brutality. I'm only sorry I don't know their language as all lyrics are in Czech and they seem to be an important element in the overall delivery of Gride's music, but the ferocity of the main and backing vocals is expressive enough to understand they are not talking about pretty flowers. The instrumental part is essentially Grindcore at its core, but there are also Hardcore and subtle Death influences thrown inthere and provides plenty of surprises to avoid being boring, even some melodic guitar leads here and there. Interesting EP, but it's more interesting to see what the band has in store for the upcoming period with this new (reduced) line-up.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 8/10

Contact:
gride.bandcamp.com
neonarcis.com