Grenouer is a Russian rock and metal band, formed in late 1992 in Perm. Their name is an intentional misspelling of grimoire, a magic textbook.
History
The debut was followed by other albums, released in Russia by labels like Irond, More Hate, Blacksmith Productions, and Metallism, further developing their death metal approach. The third album, The Odour O' Folly, included a heavy cover version of A-Ha's "Take On Me". The fourth album Presence With War lyrically dealt with the Iraq-related war issues; its front cover was made by Mickmo, an American creator of comic books. Grenouer "is the most impressive metal statement from an unlikely source," Steve Beebee wrote in 2009, reviewing the album for Kerrang! and giving it a 4K-rating.
In the mid-2000s, Grenouer's music began to change dramatically and at the same period musicians also relocated to Saint Petersburg. Preference was given to hardcore, math metal and even progressive rock. The fifth album Try was released worldwide in Great Britain by Casket Music (a division of Copro Records), that displayed these influences yet some fans of brutal death metal felt as if Grenouer was betraying their ideals. In fact they were just pioneering the genre that today has the term djent. This did not stop musicians from further experiments and the next album, Lifelong Days, was recorded with the platinum selling Finnish producer Anssi Kippo at the Astia Studios. Released by the Spanish label Locomotive Records, it showcased Grenouer's new approach to merging extreme metal with rock riffing. "Unforgiving to the end, this is metal at its most genuinely ferocious," Kerrang!s Ryan Bird wrote of Presence With War (released in 2009 in the UK) in another 4K-rating review.
In 2008, the band released their sixth studio album Lifelong Days, which continued in the same vein as its predecessor. After this record, the band would take their music in a more melodic direction starting with 2013's Blood on the Face, cutting out harsh vocals on their songs in favor of exclusively clean singing, which they've stuck with since.
Controversy
In 2004, the Mayor of Kemerovo banned Grenouer's concert the very same day they arrived at the city, allegedly for the advocacy of violence.
Line-up
Ind – vocals
Motor – guitar
Al Bolo – bass
Danny D – drums
Discography
1993 – Death of a Bite (demo) 1996 – Fiery Swans EP 1996 – Border of Misty Times 1999 – Gravehead 2001 – The Odour O'Folly 2004 – Presence With War 2005 – Try EP 2007 – Try 2008 – Lifelong Days 2011 – Computer Crime EP 2013 – Blood on the Face 2015 – Unwanted Today 2019 – Ambition 999