On November 20th, Antiq is proud to present Grylle‘s striking debut album, Les Grandes Compagnies, on vinyl LP format.
With their first demo, 2014’s Monstres et Merveilles, Grylle brought to life a new metal genre: simply, let’s call this medieval black metal. Not that the genre did not exist thematically or musically from a technical point of view; surely, plenty recordings past and present could be qualified as “medieval black metal,” but within quotation marks. But so far, by contrast, Grylle is the first and only to play black metal without the use of a single distorted guitar – only medieval instruments, truly making their Medieval Black Metal appellation authentic in every sense of the word.
Unfortunately, that first Grylle demo suffered from quiet sound and a messy production and mix, and while imposing the style, it lacked some rhythmics and variations. Although another demo came a year later, Les Nuits Sur Les Monts in 2015, all that is now in the past with the band’s modern-classic full-length, Les Grandes Compagnies, grandly receiving a new double-LP vinyl version courtesy of the Antiq stronghold.
Led by frontman Hyvermor, here with Les Grandes Compagnies do Grylle present a new kind of epic & raw medieval music mixed with black metal and rock. No more happy instruments, no more Renaissance Faires; only sadness and bitter anger remain, boiled with a passion and vision beyond compare. In a manner most idiosyncratic and devilishly anachronistic, the album’s lyrics are historically based in the present times but turned in a medieval way, mixing personal memories, experiences, and deeds. The imagery is not left aside, with a great gatefold made to remind one of the beginning of mass printing, and now including two vinyl-exclusive (and surprising!) bonus tracks. To say there is a totality here on this 75-minute monument is an understatement to end all understatements.
Hark, for Grylle‘s expanded-vinyl Les Grandes Compagnies is the first and FINAL word on medieval black metal!
Antiq is a label dedicated to the fully coherent concept of making music through sound, image, video, and attitude. They have been putting their entire existence into it since 2009. Over the years, Antiq have been identified as producers of not only perfectly coherent lyrics and themes through music, but also conceptual art and, of course, the manufacturing of beautiful objects. The label tries as much as it can to work with French creators, and if possible, with the smallest and most serious structures.
In the meantime, stream the entirety of the original CD version Les Grandes Compagnies, released earlier this spring HERE at Antiq‘s Bandcamp. Cover and tracklisting for the new vinyl version are as follows:
Tracklisting for Grylle’s Les Grandes Compagnies
A1. En la Forest dennuyeuse tristesse
A2. Les Dernières Fées de France
A3. France qui te veult mal
B1. Gothique Anjevin
B2. Hommaje a la Pomme de Pin
B3. Loz en Croissant
C1. Que chacun sonje a se pourvoir!
C2. Les Guerres Picrocholines
C3. Quand je bois du vin clairet
D1. Le Pacte des Villes
D2. Wir Zogen in das Feld
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