Do you know that in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, there is a FRANK ZAPPA statue? And the funny thing is that FRANK ZAPPA never set foot in Lithuania. From the same city, and without any statue, we are presented with the debut album of the band GRIEF GOD released independently. The album is called Deterioration and the sound of the band, according to their cool cover must be something betweenThrash/Death/Black. So very not ZAPPA like. We start with “45 Years Of Tremor “ and the boys are not kidding.

Heavy and precise as fuck, and with vocals ala MESHUGGA with a deeper guttural. "Ode To Ancestors" is next and is a festival of tuned down baritone guitars and open chords. There is not even a bass player on the credits. With 3 guitar players chugging, who needs one? And chug they do my friend. “Spite Merchant” is my favorite so far. You can feel the influence of the greats of the genre like CARCASS and OBITUARY. As incredible as you may think, Lithuania has a tradition in the metal scene since the 80’s with bands like MERESSIN and OSSASOORIUM to name a few that paved the way and some are still active and rocking in the Lithuanian scene.

We follow with ‘Pestilence” and the riffs come thick and fast. Bee guitars and great drumming on this one.There is also an interesting arrangement with a lot of variations including in the guttural vocal line. I like this one best now. We reach a welcoming different mood with “Constellation Are Their Eyes” that starts with a nice and calm instrumental before punching you in the face with pure Death but with some Lithuanian spices over it. The songs are well arranged showing that we are not only dealing with seasoned musicians, but also with seasoned composers. The drumming session reminds me of some tribal parts added to the tune just like in old SEPULTURA. With yet another interesting tempo and riff we reach “No Future”.

The album gets better and better with a festival of syncopated drumming and weird chords. The song has an short middle section where they bring the chaos to the piece to suddenly hit you with an unique guitar riff effect that I can only describe making a guitar whistle. We reach the end of our journey with “Anguish” that is more like a direct into chaos situation. No introduction, just pure violence from the first second. A little more on the traditional side of Death Metal this one but with some great riffs. Very satisfactory listening. For a first album I have to take my hat out. The guys deserve my respect for this interesting, and sometimes surprising work. I will definitely have them on my radar.