Grenouer
| Grenouer | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Genres | Rock, alternative metal, melodic death metal, progressive metal, djent |
| Years active | 1992—present |
| Labels | Mausoleum Records |
| Website | www.grenouer.com |
| Members | Ind Motor Buzzy Danny Daemon |
Grenouer is a Russian rock/metal band, formed in late 1992 in Perm. Their name is an intentional misspelling of grimoire, a magic textbook.
In their early days Grenouer played death metal and used Russian lyrics. Their debut full length Border of Misty Times saw light in 1997; the band switched here to English lyrics. In the years to come, enjoying the cult following, Grenouer played an important role in the formation of the Russian underground extreme metal scene and are regarded as one of the headstones of death metal in Russia along with Merlin, Mortem, Graveside and Scrambled Defuncts.
The debut was followed by other albums, released in Russia by labels like Irond, More Hate, Blacksmith Productions, Metallism developing death metal approach. The third album The Odour O' Folly included a heavy cover version of A-Ha's "Take On Me". The fourth album Presence With War lyrically dealt with the Iraq-related war issues; its frontcover was made by Mickmo, an American creator of comic books. Grenouer "is the most impressive metal statement from an unlikely source," Steve Beebee wrote in 2009, reviewing the album for Kerrang! and giving it a 4K-rating.
In the mid-2000s Grenouer’s music began to change dramatically and at the same period musicians also relocated to Saint Petersburg. Preference was given to hardcore, math metal and even progressive rock sound. The fifth album Try was released worldwide in Great Britain by Casket Music (a division of Copro Records), that was a flow of fresh air from the band yet some fans of brutal death metal felt as if Grenouer was betraying ideals. If fact they were just pioneering the genre that today has the term djent. This did not stop musicians from further experiments and the next album Lifelong Days was recorded with the platinum selling Finnish producer Anssi Kippo at the Astia Studios. Released by the Spanish label Locomotive Records it strengthened Grenouer’s rummage for merging extreme metal with rock riffing. "Unforgiving to the end, this is metal at its most genuinely ferocious," Kerrang!'s Ryan Bird wrote of Presence With War (released in 2009 in the UK) in another 4K-rating review.
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