Formed in 2005, BLACK GRAIL are one of the great gems of the oft-overlooked Chilean black metal underground. While much of the focus (rightfully) on the country's long-running/reigning blackthrash idiom, there's existed a parallel paradigm less populous but no less potent, and there BLACK GRAIL have dug their evil trench with dogged resolve. Naturally, their ascent/descent from that trench has been extremely patient - to date, two full-lengths have arrived, in 2015 and 2021, respectively - as well as a lauded split with France's well-respected Ysengrin, but this latest VIIII mini-album marks a shift toward (hopefully) more prolific days for BLACK GRAIL. Creepy and creeped-out, the five-track/26-minute work maintains all the magick and mysticism of their earlier work, but is now cast in a clearer (black)light that does nothing to diminish their sulfurous intensity. Alternately ritualistic, regal, and rowdy, BLACK GRAIL wind their way through a wealth of treacherous and terrorizing corridors here, establishing foggy atmosphere one minute and then bloody headbanging the other, keeping the listener engaged and on their toes with where the Chileans will lead them next. It's a distinctly Chilean style of black metal still, but VIIII could equally sit comfortably alongside the cult likes of Funereal Presence, Cultes des Ghoules or, further back, Germany's mythical Martyrium. BLACK GRAIL have revealed the number of your doom: VIIII!
