Report | GREH – Reversion of the Repressed

It didn’t take long for the solitary vision of GREH to become a full-membered grooving doom machine, with a single released late last year now resurfacing as part of this newest EP, and the metamorphosis is pronounced when sludge oozes forth on “Inhumed to Forget.” The compositions throughout pave a minimalistic burden in the vein of their debut, beginning here with a gloomy melody that lurks persistently among pulsing riff accents, and heavier alternations drop into an abyss while percussive designs trudge across the dismal expanse. Structural shifts unveil multiple fills and fretted intricacies buried within the murk, and these drift toward the roaring depths of “Winds From Throes,” where a slow-noted dejection escalates with double kick rhythms and tormented rasps. The vocals project a broader range of harshness and guttural death on this work, marking one area of improvement over the debut, and they heighten certain grooves by directing a visceral energy into the mass.

Desolation persists in the intervallic forms of “Eternal Despise,” and hints of hope are also discerned when other distinct tones augment their descent, which is punctuated by shadowy fret shapes before the dissonance peaks on “Final Sanctification.” This reanimated version of the track that initiated GREH’s new era highlights their mastery of groove, and the flow is enhanced by notes colliding in eeriness along its course. These elements often forward trance-like qualities, and they linger during the despair of “Age of Resentment II,” along with paces deviating slightly from slower doom to drive malign riff patterns. Those auras capture a brooding closure for Reversion of the Repressed, and the amplified energy overall is notable while it still seemingly reflects a formative stage in the band’s development. The stripped-back approach to songcraft is appreciable, but I’m curious about what having more integrated melodic layers or maybe even some atmospheric nuances could contribute to this sound. Until that question is answered, and hopefully on a full-length sometime in the future, this offering delivers a brief but concentrated slab of riffage and wretchedness to curse our festering existence.