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Grimm - Heksenkringen
Some people just have some problems with reading gothic fonts, like our Chief Editor Buzzin, who read Brimm  - Heksenkrijgen. Those people should listen black metal more often or pay some attention at school.
 
Grimm is a Dutch band, and they want to keep it local with their lyrics, which are in Dutch as well. That is something I really like. Most bands sing in English, but in the black metal genre, many bands sing in their own language. I always enjoy the French screams or the Norwegian growls. Some languages I cannot understand at all, but I actually don’t give a damn, it has to sound nice, and mostly non-English lyrics give the songs something extra with their other articulation and stuff.

Heksenkringen (Witchcircles) tells us stories about several witches that have died by the hands of christians in the regions of the southern Netherlands some centuries ago, and the genre pagan metal fits the lyrics very well. Musically it is a strong band in my opinion. Some nice dark guitar riffs, melodic guitar licks combined with some nice keyboards, aggression, melodramatic passages en some neat drumming make this album quite nice. But the vocals... I really love the screams, which have a very sinister touch. I really like that! Choirs are used as well, which sound not bad at all either. 

But the clean vocals... they give me shivers, and not in a positive way.  For instance the vocals in the first song ‘Witte Ruiter’. The vocals have a very tragic overtone, but in my opinion they are a tragedy themselves. The singer really needs some lessons, or he should just drop the clean vocals. When I heard these parts (the first vocals you’ll hear on this album), I was rather disappointed. Fortunately the screams surprised me after some minutes. They fit very well in the music.

A track I really like is ‘Zwarte Magie’, a song with no lyrics, but it does include some very nice choirs. Nice mid-tempo to up-tempo drums beats and some nice guitar licks and keyboard tunes give this song a nice powerful drive.
 
Overall I really like Heksenkringen, the songs are very strong, the production fits the music very well, and the ambience Grimm creates is very nice and fits the concept very well. But there are two things that lower the overall score: 1st the clean vocals, 2nd the guitar solos. I think the solos don’t fit the music. Though, I’m looking forward to the next Grimm album, hoping they drop the clean vocals and the solos.
Grimm - Heksenkringen
62/1001Details Displeased Records
Released on Saturday Apr 28th, 2007
Pagan Metal

Writer @Arcane on Tuesday Apr 17th, 2007

Tags: #Grimm
Tracklisting 1. Kapittel I De Witte Ruiter
2. Kapittel II Verbranding van een Heks
3. Kapittel III Zwarte Magie
4. Kapittel IV Als Wederganger Dwalend
5. Kapittel V Heksenkringen
6. Kapittel VI Van Drakenbloed Fel
7. Kapittel VII Tovermaas Der Kwijning
8. Kapittel VIII Opera van de Nacht
Line up Heer Antikrist - Vocals, guitars, bass
Heer Volkh V - Guitars, bass
Heer Marchosias - Additional vocals, drums