Darkest Grove – Pain and Suffering Shall Be Known (2006)

Lastly on our promo package from Forever Plagued Records, we have found a hidden gem that while being released back in 2006, it is still pretty solid and interesting to listen to. Darkest Grove debut full-length record “Pain and Suffering Shall Be Known” has a lot of different layers to it making it a very enjoyable listening experience. Being a one man band, all instruments are nicely executed and give this release a very professional feel to the already very well crafted music.

Clocking in at 63 minutes, “Pain and Suffering Shall Be Known” opens with a very mysterious organ-like intro track. The second track “(Within My) Drunemeton” delivers a nicely paced structure that features both hypnotic passages and powerful riffing with harsh vocals, all very well balanced. Moving into more traditional Black Metal ground, “Now in a Ruined State Will She Ever Cleanse Herself” delivers a chilling atmosphere created by distorted guitars and nice percussions. While this release is definitely less fast paced than traditional BM, the rawness of the emotions behind the music is excellent.

Acoustic passages such as the one in “Repudiated Ideology of Lies and Deciet” create a very eerie atmosphere. Also the distortion in this guitar is somewhat different than before and it sounds great, making it one of our favorite songs. The experimental “Alone Eternal Part I” is a very nice change of pace in this release and even adds more creepiness to the whole ensemble of this album.

Going back into eerie Black Metal mode, we have “Visions of the Withering Wood”, “The Human Plague”, and “Sacrifice against Life Itself”. All of these tracks are nicely filled with catchy guitar sections, which are very melodic in nature. Closing this release with “Wandering in the Limbo of this World”, Darkest Grove ends its debut album in a very melodic and peaceful way.

In general, if you like very well made Black Metal that is not afraid to go mid-tempo and never really unleash its full fury, you will definitely love this album. Darkest Grove focuses much of their efforts in creating a very mystical and eerie atmosphere that the Black Metal sections come second in this release. The guitar work is very good and the rest of the instrumentation is perfectly used to create such an atmosphere. Will this become a cult release in the future? We sure hope so.

Release: 2006

Country: USA