Mired in the Reek of Grief

vote
6.5

• Band:
  Reekmind
• Duration: 00:38:34
• Available since: 07/03/2025
• Label:

• Night terrors records

Streaming not yet available

In the ribbering, mefitic, pantheon of the Death-doom seems to have placed new adepts forever, looking for a little insane attention. The debut album of the Australian Reekmind is voted for the soul and body to a representation of the purely old-scaol genre, taking Death and Doom in their more arcane forms and combining them in marriage according to rules written in stone and never modified. An extremely feral sound, crackling and devoid of embellishments or digressions towards more airy shores, or relatively kind: at most, it is laterally draws on the most disheartened and corrupt slut, trying to emanate an opensing horrifying atmosphere.
The disk adds five tracks, if you exclude the intro “The Reekmind” we have four medium long, on average exhausting compositions, how much the band probably wanted them to be. Of the marches in mud and putrescence, to be performed limp and reeling in the miasmas.
Looking at the pure atmosphere, the feeling of being thrown into a world of horrors and obscenities, actually the southern combo does things in the right way, because the general feeling is actually swampy, unhealthy, stingy of airy and relaxing situations. Compared to the names mentioned in the presentation – Krypts, Inverloch, Thou – music still sounds less deep, less stratified, tending to raw and reduced to the bone forms. We approach preferably to the old material of the enchantment, with some touch of the most slowed bitituary, using a rather minimal riffing, with limited variations, as the rhythmic solutions are quite reduced. Accelerations have a sinisterly rustic character, impulsive strangers that are born almost suddenly, instinctively, confirming the rough primitive nature of the project.
The Reekminds take refuge in linear sound constructions, with a conception of what is Death and Doom trapped in the early 90s. The riffing remains raw and abrasive for the duration of the disc, removed some arpeggios in the smell of Funeral Doom it is difficult to find some guitar ideas that does not know only death, maceration, corruption of meat.
The exhausting, uniform and rabboniato incede can play like a tiring – for the listener – hybrid between, in fact, the Thou and forms of Death Metal slowed down very raw as the first My Dying Bride: music of the past, a journey in the past like that of the final “A lingering mephitic void”, which with some sprays of atmosphere and a particularly signed peer disc.
The recording also knows of Selvatico, postponing back in time, despite the mixing by Greg Chandler – the renowned producer and leader of the esoteric – and the burning of Dan Lowndens (pillar of the cruciamentums and in turn of the sound engineer among the most sought after in the field Death Metal) they give them that minimum of push and dynamism to not give her too much naive connotation. The general picture, in a nutshell, is not yet from the forefronts of the class, nor by debutants ready to make the big leap among the 'hot' names in the sector.
However, the group demonstrates credibility and true ardor: the genuine putrescence of the most visceral and corrotto death metal is perceptible, and up to a certain point all this aura of genuine roughness and, why not, naivety in the way of composing and playing, contributes to giving some point in favor of “Mild in the Reek of Grief”.
Undoubtedly around there is better and it is unlikely that currently the Reek of Grief can earn who knows how many loyal: despite this the album is of those who listen willingly and, after some initial perplexity, is made to love, making his best qualities emerge with listening. We will see if over time the Reekminds will be swallowed up by oblivion, or they will be able to carve out a small space on the scene.