About
Extreme fans of Black Sabbath's slow songs and Saint Vitus' super-slow songs, Grief specialized in super-duper slow songs and had a hand in what later became termed stoner rock. But their really super-duper-duper slow songs were closer to doom metal than the logo-friendly music of Fu Manchu and others that followed in the five-piece's 10-year stomp through the metal fringe. As a result, they are also often credited with pioneering the puke-tastic art of sludge metal. Due to indifference bordering on hostility in their hometown of Boston, Mass., the band packed up their gear and split after releasing six records and a handful of singles, near constant touring of the East Coast and metal festival circuit, and making two appearances on live comps between 1991 and 2001. By that point they'd gained an impressive amount of critical praise in the outsider metal scene. The music may move at a sluggish pace but each song is top-heavy with riffs, shifts in structure (usually from slow to slower) and is decisively marked by the ragged vocals of guitarist Jeff Hayward, a clear influence on Khanate singer Alan Dubin.
- Mike McGuirk
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