In Twilight's Embrace - The Grim Muse

IN TWILIGHT'S EMBRACE - The Grim Muse (ARACHNOPHOBIA - CD 2015)

A nice surprise from Arachnophobia Records, I must say. It’s the first time I hear In Twilight’s Embrace, even if the band already had a couple of other albums released (“Buried in Between” in 2006 and “Slaves to Martyrdom” in 2011, both for some shitty small labels I don’t recognize). So, it’s good that they ended up in Arachnophobia, which is small, but hard working label, with good promotion, distribution and morbid passion for their releases. “The Grim Muse” is their latest release and I must admit that I am very pleased with the result, I enjoyed this CD totally and it’s probably one of my favourite albums that Arachnophobia unleashed so far.

I actually treated In Twilight’s Embrace as debutants, because when I started to listen to  “The Grim Muse” I had no idea about the previous releases from them. So, after a couple of tracks my jaw ended up on the floor, dropped with big bang, so impressed I was with the music that erupted from the speakers. I was lucky that all kids were not in home, so I played this CD really loud and it exploded with such furious, powerful energy that I was into the music right away. And I bet you all will be, as this is seriously a quality stuff. And don’t be misled by all that melodic death metal tag  “The Grim Muse” has, as it’s not entirely fair to be in the same category of bands as fuckin Soilwork or whatever other shit you relate melodic death metal to. Of course “The Grim Muse” has a strong melodic base for their songs, it is obvious that At the Gates must have had influenced them hugely, but I would not exaggerate about that, as In Twilight’s Embrace also offers a lot of anger, fury, aggression and blasting parts that blow away 99% of the so called melodic death metal bands in seconds. And that for me personally is the strongest value of this album; that fury and passionate ferocity it has. And of course we should not forget that In Twilight’s Embrace delivers just well composed and perfectly executed stuff. They have great riffs all the way through the album, with many catchy and memorable harmonies, great diversity, which will take you from slightly mournful piece here to ravaging, bestial attack there, all with perfect arrangements and song structures… and finally the production is simply flawless.

OK, what I wrote here may sound all too fuckin flattering and ass kissing, what can I do, if I simply enjoy this music? And I can’t imagine different opinions on this album. There are no weak points, really. Obviously there will be moaners… there always are. But who cares? Let them live their pitiful, crappy lives. “The Grim Muse” is definitely an album that will please fans of At the Gates, Carcass, God Dethroned and Swedish death metal in general (Evocation, etc). I don’t feel like describing every song from the album is necessary here, just be prepared for a huge portion of excellent music and a strong tracklist that do not contain fillers, but surely have such sure hits like “Der Hellseher (I Have a Dream)”, "A Wolf I Remain" or “The Grim Muse”. Actually it’s even difficult to pick up sure favourites, it can be changing with every listen.

So, now, after such a strong release, I am sure that the demand for the previous In Twilight’s Embrace albums will be high. I am already on a hunt, even though I’ve heard that they started as hardcore band.

Standout tracks: “Der Hellseher (I Have a Dream)”, "A Wolf I Remain", “The Fullmoon Strain”, “The Grim Muse”, “Chainclad”

Final rate: 80/100