Band:	Grima
Album:	Nightside
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	February 28, 2025
A review by:	RaduP

01. Intro (Cult)
02. Beyond The Dark Horizon
03. Flight Of The Silver Storm
04. Skull Gatherers
05. Impending Death Premonition
06. The Nightside
07. Where We Are Lost
08. Curse Of The Void
09. Mist And Fog
10. Outro (Memories Of A Forgotten Home)

A couple of days ago there was a huge storm in my area. I later received messages and photos from my friends about the damage in its aftermath. I personally didn't notice it while it was happening because I was at the office listening to this album. Fitting.

That isn't the first time I associate an album with the moment when I listened to it, and somehow there is something about Nightside that is fitting for a storm, even though it happening during peak working hours is quite contrary to its title. Not only that, but Grima's entire appeal is more naturalistic, and them being from Russia, a country with gargantuan stretches of nature to be evoked, and it's a far cry between Siberian taigas and my office building, regardless of the amount of naturalistic forces at play. Something about playing Grima's music in an urban setting is logically unsound, even if the only time I've seen them and the next time I'm due to see them will be in the same city where that storm took place, one that's very distant from the image that the band's music evokes. It shouldn't be fitting, but because of my personal connection, it is.

I don't want to exaggerate my personal connection, because having been aware of them through this website and later seeing them live is a pretty low bar. Part of the reason why I was excited about this album was because this was the longest gap in between releases for the band, even if by only one more year comparatively, and also because seeing them live made me associate their oak masks with their music more than any music video ever could. And, at this point, every release since Will Of The Primordial has been some really rewarding atmospheric black metal, specific enough to have its own identity, Nightside has little reason to shift trajectory beyond a few tweaks.

One of the moments that did surprise me through my first playthrough of the album was how much the intro to "Skull Gatherers" sounded like it could've been taken from The Mantle in its clean guitar sound and its specific approach to atmosphere. It's not enough for me to cry plagiarism, because the way they integrate that moment into the larger picture is pure Grima, especially because of those rasps and the accordion. The latter, credited with the more specific instrument name as the bayak, has been a staple of the band's sound since Tales Of The Enchanted Woods, courtesy of Sergey Pastukh, but it feels like an even larger part of their sound this time around. Aside from the cleaner atmospheric moments in the mellower sections, the slower paces occasionally have a doomier edge, from the symphonic tinged "Flight Of The Silver Storm" to the larger vocal ensemble courtesy of the guest vocalists in "Impending Death Premonition" and "Curse Of The Void". It's a telling testament to the band's songwriting abilities how seamlessly these moments integrated with the band's sound.

It might be my soft spot for Agalloch and accordions that led me to resonating with this album so much, perhaps even more so than my storm anecdote, which is a pretty good sign since those are things others can latch unto as well. Long time listeners are likely already latched, but newcomers will find Nightside an amazing entry point to Grima's forest black metal.