GRAILS “Doomsdayer’s Holiday” dbl LP

As I am not super familiar with the Grails (only their name), I figured what better description than what the good folks at Temporary Residence say about it.

Following up last year’s “Burning Off Impurities” and their recent “Take Refuge In Clean Living” EP, GRAILS return with their darkest, heaviest record yet. Written and recorded over the last 18 months, “Doomsdayer’s Holiday” delivers on the promises made by their previous albums, taking equal pride in smoky psychedelics and mountain-ascending riffs. With Faust, Earth and Sunn O))) collaborators acting as engineers – not to mention drummer Emil Amos having recently become the new other half of Om – Grails’ avant-metal leanings are evident as always. But “Doomsdayer’s Holiday” finds their already-broad palette continually expanding with 70s European film noir and cosmic free jazz explorations complimenting the Middle Eastern psychedelic folk-metal the group is already known for. After a wildly prolific three-year streak that saw the band ceaselessly pushing forward, Grails have finally made an album that pushes back.