There's still magic in these black/white cover artworks, the mystical band logos and the frozen 'Northern' black Metal atmosphere. Italy's GRIM MONOLITH serves this specific sound mist and - in search for a label - now offer their second full album named Mooncrowned. The early 90s shall revive...
Being around for five years, GRIM MONOLITH did not suffer much from lineup changes in order to begin creating their own metallic dogmas. Obviously influenced by the freezing perversion of profane sinners like BATHORY, DARKHTRONE, IMMORTAL and SATYRICON they have built a relevant song basis structure enriched by some more melodic pieces (e.g. in Sculpting Eternity) always in favor of - mainly - blastbeat or up-marching tempos. The vocals are interesting, with a lurking eldritch aura and a tension to go solemn/mature at times (e.g. in Immortal Spleen). The guitars themes could be stamped as interesting, yet their naive sound and - to an extent - performance does not leave much space to seriously comment upon. The bass/drums sections suffer in the production part too, still they offer stability and loyal coherence.
Ice cold Black Metal the old-school way, with enough tranquil intermezzos, is what GRIM MONOLITH has to offer in Mooncrowned. You shall not - in general - listen to something not already performed in this specific sub-genre. Yet, enough songparts are evaluated with that something capable of pushing up the band to major fields. For this, though, total care for the guitars sound and production is needed first thing. For the time, visit the band's official website and (in the Media section) give it a try and get mooncrowned yourself.