Australian doom/death metal trio Grotesque Bliss reissued self-titled debut demo on vinyl and CD via Iron Bonehead Productions!
Australian doom/death metal trio Grotesque Bliss has reissued their self-titled debut demo on vinyl and CD via Iron Bonehead Productions. An expanded version of »Grotesque Bliss« demo was just released on April 11th, 2025.
Tracklist:
01. Grotesque Bliss
02. Bringeth Death To Life
03. Old Earth
04. God Of The Godless
05. Sanguine Bebimus
06. Slipping Through The Cracks Of Grief
07. I Am The Bloody Earth (My Dying Bride cover)
Courtesy of Iron Bonehead Productions:
Iron Bonehead Productions is proud to present an expanded version of Grotesque Bliss’ debut demo, »Grotesque Bliss«, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Order your copy HERE.
Hailing from Australia, Grotesque Bliss feature vocalist/bassist Bjorn of the equally mighty Temple Nightside and Grave Upheaval; guitarist Chris Burton, whose credentials stretch back to the ’90s with Paramæcium, Cryptal Darkness, and then the successive The Eternal among others; and veteran drummer Matthew Southcombe, whose credits include Internecine Excoriation among others, filling out the lineup. In 2022, the trio promptly set about capturing their ancient doom-death. Two rehearsals followed, with a self-titled demo arriving in 2024.
Now, that demo sees international release in expanded form, concluding with a cover of My Dying Bride’s classic »I Am The Bloody Earth«. Thus padded out to a full-length, Grotesque Bliss’ first long-form recording is a dark & disturbing display of paradigmatic doom-death, and unapologetically so. Granted, some parallels can be drawn to Grave Upheaval’s bleakness as well as Temple Nightside’s cavernousness – and, of course, Paramæcium are a cult name among doom-death aficionados – but on »Grotesque Bliss« do they stick to a rigorous template of primeval lurch, caveman execution, and twisting, tendrilous songwriting that thankfully doesn’t wander into amorphous, all-atmosphere territory. Sometimes, almost fleetingly, will their stomp almost encroach upon the mid-tempo, but then Grotesque Bliss strip it back to bare-bones, suffocatingly slow. Vapor trails of leads add a touch of deeper melancholy, as do the tortured moans; otherwise, vocals plumb the abyss, and there is where you’ll stay. No light, no hope, no fun: this is Grotesque Bliss.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well