Review: Merrimack Embark on a Dark Cosmic Journey on Of Grace and Gravity

Black metal is a very proud genre by nature. While there’s certainly plenty of innovation and nuance to be found, purists often hold on to the subgenre’s roots, never deviating terribly far from what made it what it is in the first place.

Of Grace and Gravity, the newest full-length from Parisian staunch black metal traditionalists Merrimack, doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does use that wheel to great effect. As soon as you press play you’re immediately thrown headlong into the deep end as the opening track “Sulphurean Synods” launches into a maelstrom of double bass and bellowing vocals. After being pummeled for nearly four minutes straight, there’s a merciful moment of reprieve — but only a brief one. Just as the listener’s about to catch their breath, a slow, menacing chord progression rings out and the tempo slowly builds to a massive crescendo, only to completely drop out at the very end. It’s a nice little misdirection and a very strong way to start the album.

The second track “Sublunar Despondency” takes the pace down a notch, but not by much, and what it loses in tempo it more than makes up for with atmosphere. “Dead and Distant Clamors” ramps things right back up to a fever pitch with an ominous, deceptively simple and very catchy riff. At this point I assumed we were in for something of a pendulum swing- one fast track and then a slow one- but then came the curveball. Right after a massive pick slide that I was sure would lead into some more blistering circle pit inducing riffs, instead they slow things to a crawl with a droning, semi-dissonant plodding segment that feels like dragging yourself through a fetid bog waist-deep in sludge. It’s a very interesting subversion of expectation that demonstrates the band’s awareness of pacing, which is something I always appreciate.

Unfortunately, from this point on I started to get the impression that we had pretty much seen and heard everything that was going to happen. Aside from the many unexpected shifts in tempo, Of Grace and Gravity is pretty standard, straightforward black metal; it’s good, but it’s also nothing we haven’t already heard a hundred times before. I could talk about how “Starving Crowns” has a slow atmospheric opening that gradually builds speed throughout the first half and finishes strong on the back end while the following track “Under the Aimless Spheres” pretty much does the opposite and creates a sort of yin-yang dynamic, but I would just be beleaguering the point that I already made. I did, however, appreciate that the closing track “Embalmer’s Wine” is completely instrumental all the way through except for a couple of drawn-out unearthly shrieks at the very end. That was a nice touch that brings things to a close with a genuine flourish. This album definitely starts and finishes on a strong note, it’s just that everything in between kind of starts to feel like filler after a while.

Another issue I had with Gravity was how the drums and bass were both very low in the mix, which I’ve found to be fairly common in this genre. The only part of the drum kit that really cuts through are the cymbals, while the snare, kick, and toms are sadly buried amongst everything else, especially when things start getting fast and crazy. It’s a shame, really, because Thomas Hennequin (aka Blastum) is clearly very talented and playing his ass off, and I would’ve loved to be able to hear more of it. The bass is there if you’re listening for it, and I’m sure if it were to be cut out completely it would become much more noticeable, but that’s the thing, you have to be actively listening for it in order to notice it. There is such a thing as being too subtle.

But then again, maybe I’m just splitting hairs. It’s not “bad” by any means; it’ll certainly get people banging their heads and throwing the horns at a show, and the atmosphere is on point. We often like to bemoan the fact that there doesn’t seem to be as much innovation or genuine freshness in metal anymore (which is extremely debatable), but then again, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel in order to have fun racing a car. Just because something isn’t on the cutting edge anymore doesn’t mean that it’s not enjoyable, it really just depends on what you’re looking to get out of it.

So, with that in mind, I’ll just say this: if you love black metal, then you will enjoy this album. Period. Don’t let my lukewarm reception deter you; I’m just one guy, and despite the issues I had with it, ultimately I did enjoy this album. It might not have blown my mind, but I wouldn’t kick it out of bed for getting crumbs on the sheets either, especially if those crumbs were from communion wafers eaten as a gag.

Of Grace and Gravity is available now via Season of Mist Records, order your copy here