Label: Fetzner Death Records
Date: January 15th, 2025
Greh is our biggest pain, our destiny, a fault of the human kind. Because of it, women bear children in pain, because of it we feel shame and in the end experience our own hell. In Serbian greh means sin. So I was interested to see who got the idea for the name like this because someone with Balkan origins is for sure. Gjero Krsteski aka Gjero is the main suspect. So let’s see what sin they commited.
“Dysphoric Devotion” is Greh’s first full length which put them officially on a map of sludge metal bands in Germany. They started their career in 2022 by EP “Age of Resentment” after this, another EP under name “Reversion of the Repressed” in 2023 and in January 15th this album.
As the time passes and metal is evolving more and more we have many new genres of metal but in many cases those genres are not so berable to listen to. Sludge metal as a perfect combination of death and doom is something really powerful and dark to the core. Slow and hard melody of doom but in a combination with chaotic energy of death metal makes something special. That darkness and heavy energy is imprinted in the lyrics of the entire album.
“Dyspnoric Devotion” starts with “Chained thoughts” which opens a door to this hard subject of humankind. After a short intro Greh goes straight to the point. Not so standard but also fresh from the oven and modern melody is a bit monotonous but perfect for the opening song. But the next song “Dysphoric Devotion” demanted and erased that monotonous melody from the start. With growls straight from hell and perfect sludge melody they managed to drag me into the core of the album.. Song I would describe as perfect is “Thy Breath Not Mine”. It’s actually the central song of the album with the best drumline I have heard in recent times. Here in this album there are no more oscillations in melody energy. Everything has a constant path. This continuum is not boring because it has a point. Something that is so sensitive like songs “Growth in Pain”, “Illusional Cenotaph” or “Enter my Oblivion” deserves goosebumps deeply in the skin. It’s hard not to feel the emotion of these three gentlemen through songs, so if you don’t have that privilege just look at the cover photo. Chained life, dysphoria, lost mind is disturbing to watch. Every song of the album has its symbol here on the picture. And it’s perfect. Metal lyrics were always in my eyes part of my education so now as someone who is more into the subject of psychiatry and medicine I can tell you that this album made me feel pain in my guts almost the same as when I am with a patient who looks like a girl from the cover picture. The message of this album is strong and please look after your loved ones, listen to them, pay attention to their pain. It’s important.
