Grim Fate - Perished In Torment

Grim Fate is a 3 piece death metal outfit from the Netherlands that are solely intent on taking listeners back to the early 90s and reliving a classic known as “Lost Paradise.” Their debut, “Perished In Torment,” is a great tribute the raw, yet mournful epic that launched doom pioneers Paradise Lost, and while listeners may feel it is a strong imitation, Grim Fate try to put their own spin on the music to avoid being complete copy cats. Their work is best described in the old school vein of catchy death metal riffs that tend to carry on at a mid pace versus where “Lost Paradise” was slower and more suffocating. There is a certain quickness when hearing a track like ‘Pile Of Corpses’ as Grim Fate shreds through with some pretty awesome blast beats and thick drums while the vocals growl about. They are a bit on the low end and unfortunately due to distortion of the music feel a little buried at times but are still very effective at helping create that heavy atmosphere without relying on extreme speed. Lots of tracks like this one and ‘Abominations’ tend to move along at the same pace without much difference between them, so new listeners who like a little more variety may get slightly bored.

“Perished In Torment” does try to take a lot of cues from their predecessor’s doom masterpiece such as on ‘Perpetual Anguish’ which opts for a much more sludgy tone and long, drawn out solos versus the faster mid pace the chugs about. As a result, the band shy away from any notion that they are just another typical grim death metal band and at the same time not trying to repeat what lots of doom bands tend to do. The pauses between the riffs with the drums bring a more haunting atmosphere to the music and make Grim Fate seem more dynamic, while their gruesome lyrics will still appeal to those who want their death metal as evil as possible without being too cliche. The title track makes the best of both worlds opting to stat out slow and draw listeners in and then speed up with rather catchy, speedy passages that seem comparable to a band like Vader, but not quite reaching speed thrash levels.

It isn’t until ‘The Final Day’ that one can really appreciate Grim Fate’s style of merging death metal and doom. It is probably their heaviest track yet as the group really amps up the distortion with how the guitar tones crash and they also include some of their softest, melodic moments, and it drags on for about ten minutes. The band is smart about their pacing though as they start with the energetic bits, ease up for a while, pick things up, and then close on the slowest bits. It is a great example of harsher death metal that doesn’t have to be balls out furious like a group such as Vital Remains would approach it, yet Grim Fate does enough to keep it from being boring also. Yes, the chugging riffs can be repetitive, but that’s what you get with a lot of death and doom alike that tend to focus on being solely guitar, bass, and drum driven with vocals and don’t have those cleaner elements like piano or cello.

Ultimately, Grim Fate’s debut is indeed a tribute to the greats, which helps and hurts them at the same time. They emulate Paradise Lost’s style very well, and those who have been looking for more deathly doom versus gothic doom of recent times will really dig this album. Yet, the band has also limited themselves to stay bound within the sub genre and sound of early 90s death or doom metal, and so many bands have already gone down this path it makes them hard to be as distinguishable as some others. Hopefully on future work Grim Fate will keep up with their tribute sound but add fresher elements in to help them stand more on their own, rather than rely too much on old tried and true formulas. In general, fans of twisted, gritty music that isn’t as polished as melo death but isn’t as raw and grinding as old school Swedish death metal that can sound like it was recorded in a hollow garage will find a nice niche with this group’s sound.

3 / 5 STARS 

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1. Pile Of Corpses
2. You Will Rot
3. Perpetual Anguish
4. Abominations
5. Perished In Torment
6. The Final Day