Grymheart – Hellish Hunt
Release Date: 22nd September 2023
Label: Scarlet Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Power Metal, Folk Metal.
FFO: Children of Bodom, Ensiferum, Wintersun, Crimson Shadows, Powerwolf, Amon Amarth.
Review By: Rick Farley
Formed in 2020 and hailing from the beautiful land of Budapest, Hungary. Grymheart combines triumphant folk harmonies, speedy, traditional heavy metal guitar riffs with melodic death metal to produce a rip-roaring sound worthy of sword battling in the nearest medieval setting you can find. First and foremost, Hellish Hunt is an extremely fun listen, brining all the classic sing along, beer swigging, evil slaying, victorious war metal to the masses. With equal parts Children of Bodom, Powerwolf and Amon Amarth, the heart of the band’s sound resides somewhere in between all three. That in no way means that Grymheart is a clone of any of those bands, because they are most definitely not. It’s just a starting point for you to jump in and have a listen. The exuberance of symphonic power metal, the harsh raspy melodic death metal vocals, and the catchy harmonies are easily digested and remarkably memorable. This record will have you killing vampires in no time.
Theme wise, the concept and imagery of Grymheart come from iconic monster and demon hunter style characters such as The Witcher, Solomon Kane, Van Helsing etc, with the songs telling tales of mystical creatures such as harpies, krakens and ignis fatuus. The first single To Die by the Succubus is a great example of this. The video with its dark hoods, spooky setting, and demon seductress ready to drain you of your essence looks exactly how this band sounds. If that even makes sense. Slightly blackened thrashy riffs with folkish harmonies that border on being upbeat and bouncy. The growls are slightly reminiscent of Jeff Walker of Carcass and are extremely hooky. The track pace is steady, the guitar riffs are crisp and crunchy, while the drums pound forward, making it nearly impossibly to not throw up the devil horns in heavy metal worship.
Army from the Graves starts off at a slower, deliberate pace. The guitars sound metallic and rigid, with lots of crunch. The track with its distinctive melodies sways with a war torn crawl, a battle flag being waved steadily as the triumphant, cleanly sung shanty of the chorus is easily burrowed into your consciousness and will be stuck there for days. While the speed of Facing the Kraken is like one of its tentacles swiftly crashing the side of your skull. It’s epic, fast and relentless.
Hellish Hunt definitely is a record to check out if you are a fan of the blending of any of these styles. There’s nothing really mind-blowing as far as being original or showing many new ideas, however it’s well put together, extremely memorable, recorded beautifully and the songs feel complete. Tons and tons of replayability just for the sheer catchiness and cheer this will bring. This is for the horn throwing headbangers, for sure. The one issue I could see with this is that the power metal fans might be put off by the melodic death metal vocals, and the death metal fans may have a hard time taking any of this seriously. Granted, that’s not its purpose to begin with, but metal fans aren’t exactly the easiest to please, for the most part. Personally, I’ve always liked these styles together, and it truly makes for a gloriously fun listen. The twin guitar attack, double kick, and harsh vocals make this a pretty fun ride to keep coming back to. 
(3.5 / 5)
