France's Grylle has set 10 November as the release date of its sophomore full-length, Egrotants, Souffreteux, Cacochymes, Covidards, which will come out via Antiq. The band has also unveiled two tracks, "Grande Marche des Covidards" and "Mauvais Sang".
Grylle is a band formed in 2013 in France. As soon as the first songs got published on the mesmerizing demo Monstres et Merveilles in 2014, the band claimed a radical style: medieval music (flutes, lute, medieval drums) with black metal vocals.
No use of synthesizers, samples or any guitar: modern instruments are banned. The lyrical theme of Grylle finds inspiration in the current social and political situation to write chronicles of our time through a medieval approach and a satirical point of view.
Following the demo came an album literally making the consensus: Les Grandes Compagnies in 2019. Black metal howled in the French language and played on lute and drummed with a metal drumkit. After a couple of years of working with talented musicians and traditional artists, Grylle finally reveals its long-awaited new album: Egrotants, Souffreteux, Cacochymes, Covidards.
Here, on Egrotants, Souffreteux, Cacochymes, Covidards, we talk about plague, diseases, and strange afflictions: themes that still nowadays sow panic through their constant walk of death, depicted through the medieval point of view that made Grylle one of a kind. Expect nothing less than black metal as it would have been made in the Middle Ages after the Great Plague fear: brutal, inventive, and without compromise. Nevertheless, elegance and majesty shine on this album, as depicted by the beautiful illumination of the cover created by the medievalist painter Miho Kuroyanagi. The musicians and guests take medieval black metal to the highest level of authenticity and creativity.
Musically, the base is that of a power trio: fast and bizarre lute melodies by Hyver (Véhémence, Hanternoz), swinging and inventive bass with a 70s prog approach by KK (Passéisme, Paroxysm Unit), and flamboyant and luxurious drums led by Cadavre (Cantique Lépreux, Mêlée des Aurores, Forteresse live). Above it, some strange and uncommon instruments are psalterions, flutes and pipes, Sarrazin guitar (or citole), and brass sections. And then, harsh vocals as Grylle's Hyver and La Griesche are capable of, enhanced by rare but angelic choirs. Link
Egrotants, Souffreteux, Cacochymes, Covidards tracklist:
1. Grande Marche des Covidards
2. Mauvais Sang
3. Moribon Flétri d'Orgueil
4. Réservement de Confortale Présence
5. Le Tropique du Cancer
6. Queresle des Diables sur la Savance du Mort
7. Le Triomphe de la Mort