I was unfamiliar with Griefeater, when I chose to write about their newest single; however, now that I have ingested all of, ‘Bottom of the Well’s sludgy glory, I couldn’t be more excited to dive into the rest of their discography.
Griefeater are a difficult to define band, falling somewhere between sludge rock and shoegaze. Many of their tracks feature deft executions of both sounds, somehow blending together as if they were never meant to be apart. ‘Bottom of the Well’, is no exception to this rule. The Chicago band’s newest single opens with screaming guitar distortion, before launching into a booming introduction. It is relatively chilled out from here, but with little suggestion that they won’t go head first into an all out wall of sound later on (which of course, they do). They have the scuzz of Drop Nineteens; the crescendos of Knifeplay; and the biblical screams of Deafheaven – a pretty formidable combination.
Griefeater are a promising young band. With a small, yet strong output, they are clearly taking their time to define themselves as a band. ‘Bottom of the Well’, suggests a project that is steadily finding their footing; amongst buzzed out soundscapes, and mountainous guitar booms, Griefeater are on their way to becoming your new favourite band.
Written by Callum Foulds
