Gvla – Invidia
Band: GVLA
Title: Invidia
Label: Black Metal Musicians Productions
Release date: November 1st, 2024
Country: Germany
Format reviewed: CD Quality Digital Promo
The third full-length album of GVLA follows the same raw old-school style as the band’s previous work. The title album is Invidia, meaning envy, and so it continues GVLA’s exploration of the cardinal sins.
GVLA is a two-person act which is reflected in the minimalist songwriting. Guitar riffs over drums topped off with vocals and a subtle bass line. Not more is needed. This is well-crafted and well-performed black metal in the early second-wave style.
With the minimalist arrangement, every part is clearly audible. For me, this is especially captivating in the case of the drums. I am not a drummer myself and usually only feel the effect of the drums, unable to separate specific beats and techniques. But with the restrain of the other layers, I can clearly hear every drum beat and follow the story that is told in the rhythm and intensity, flowing between rage and hesitation. The storytelling moves back and forth between the drums and the guitar riffs while the vocals are more of an accentuation. Nothing is extra, nothing is hidden.
The guitar riffs are simple and quite catchy. There is dissonance but the complexity is restrained, maybe by artistic choice or maybe by limited possibilities because of the small line-up. Either way, I appreciate it. Together with the production, which is colder and rougher than their previous releases, the whole listening experience feels organic, like standing in the studio with the band. Since GVLA is known for playing live at small venues this might be the feeling they are trying to convey.
The vocals are strong and range from lower to mid-pitched fry screams. The vocals answer the energy rising from the instruments. The more I listen the more I feel the pulse of earth in the drums, the ritualistic repetition, the rise and fall. The guitars flow over it like streams and swirls of water and on top, coming and going, and the vocals are gusts of wind and meaning.
Four songs into the album GVLA has my full trust and attention. I am ready to keep listening for hours and already I am writing the happy review in my head. Then I am without warning thrown out into deep syntheziser space. It is not an intro or an effect, it is a whole song in a slow, minimalistic dungeon synth style right after the earthy black metal feast.
If it were only the emptiness and flatness of the synthesizer sound I would already have disliked it, but the horror doesn’t end there. After a few seconds, some kind of quacking duck sound starts and it goes on and on, getting nowhere. When it finally ends it is followed by an outro that is even worse. The gong in the beginning is nice but then some kind of insect starts buzzing around my head. It could have been a creepy effect, but it isn’t. It is just annoying and artificial, and it takes me right out of my immersion. As if that was not enough some invasive scraping sounds start to scratch way too close to my ears. My imagination fails to understand what the band wanted to achieve with this ending of such an amazing, organic black metal album. Luckily it is easy to just listen to the first tracks and stop the music before the attack of the space ducks.
Needless to say, the grade would have been higher if this was an ep without the two last songs or, even better, a full length with more of the beautiful style of GVLA black metal. Still, I would not want anyone to miss out on this listening experience. “Invidia” is a great album, well worth enduring the weird ending. Maybe somebody else will even find the meaning of those last songs. I recommend Invidia to anyone who appreciates raw and old-school black metal and enjoys a strong presence of the drums. 7/10 by Ask den Hängde
Band
Bandcamp
Instagram
Facebook
Spotify
YouTube
Black Metal Musicians Productions
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Bandcamp
Spotify
YouTube
Radio
Telegram Group
“GVLA has, after the review was published, informed us that the songs were submitted in incorrect order. The second to last ambient track is meant to be placed in the middle of the EP. They would also like to clarify that the noise on the track is not ducks but frogs, and that the two ambient tracks are used as interludes during live performances”
7/10: Victory is Possible!
**Please support the underground! It’s vital to the future of our genre.**
#WeAreTheBlessedAltarZine
#TheZineSupportingTheUnderground
