‘Try’ is the latest album from GRENOUER, a band from Saint Petersburg, Russia who formed in 1992. Originally a straight death metal band they are now incorporating techno/industrial elements into their music. 

After a fairly pointless intro it’s straight into the first track ‘Devils Eye’. What at first struck me is that vocalist Andrej ‘Ind’ sounds remarkably like Max Cavalera and it is Ind’s impressive vocal performance that carries this album. ‘Devils Eye’ is the most accessible track of the album (If you can say that about a death metal band) with no techno elements to speak of just some good thrashy death metal.

The next track is the CANNIBAL CORPSE-esque ‘Open up Entrails’ that features some electronic vocal effects on the lyrically retarded chorus. The lead guitar of Alexander ‘Motor’ consistently employs pounding riffs throughout the album, and the effective use of stop start riffing adds to the discordant atmosphere of the album.

The fourth track ‘All along the Runway’ is one of the stronger tracks on the album. With a slightly slower pace and a more intelligent dynamic to the track, a ghost like echo applied to Ind’s clean vocals in the chorus makes for a satisfying listen.

Having never heard of GRENOUER before their change from straight death metal to techno metal, the change has had little bearing on my reception to this album. The band should be given some credit for expanding their sound as long as its to improve on what gave them their initial success, it seems with ‘Try’ GRENOUER are trying (no pun intended) so many things it’s a bit overwhelming all on the same album.

This is particularly jarring with the album’s final two tracks ‘The Message’ and ‘Shut My Eyes’ which are remixes by someone called Gipnoz, reminiscent of German sythpop NEUROTICFISH! This album has some solid tracks on it although worryingly it does not deliver much beyond the ‘Try’ EP released in 2006 as you would expect with the extra time they have had to work on it.

Rating 3.2/5.0

Alexander Shaw

 Release Date: 10th March 2008