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Holy Grove, Holy Grove: Establishing Presence (Plus Full Album Stream)

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[Stream Holy Grove’s self-titled debut in full above. Album is out Friday on Heavy Psych Sounds.]

Portland, Oregonian four-piece Holy Grove have been one of their home city’s most eagerly anticipated bands for the last couple years, managing to stand themselves out from a crowded scene even before they really got around to putting out music. To wit, their self-titled debut arrives with stunning cover artwork by Adam Burke through Heavy Psych Sounds preceded only by a two-song live recording, Live at Jooniors (review here), with the songs “Nix” and “Holy Grove” (both of which feature on the album) and rolls out massive, Billy Anderson-tracked grooves that seem a long time coming from the group, who are veterans of Hoverfest and soon-to-be Psycho Las Vegas, when in fact they’re not in the slightest. Holy Grove formed in 2012. There are debut albums that have been much longer in the making.

Nonetheless, the seven tracks/43 minutes of Holy Grove‘s Holy Grove establish a veteran-style presence throughout their run, thanks in no small part to patient tempos, a general awareness of where they want to be sonically, graceful, thick tones, and the masterful vocals of Andrea Vidal, who is an oft-layered force atop the familiar “Nix” and preceding opener “Death of Magic,” furthering a classic heavy rock vibe even as the band takes a modern-sounding approach — I’ve also never known an Anderson record to have a particularly retro aesthetic, natural though they may be — in consuming tonality and unmitigated groove. Guitarist Trent Jacobs, bassist Gregg Emley and drummer Craig Bradford (first replaced by Ryan Northrop, also of the recently-put-on-hiatus Sons of Huns, then by current drummer Adam Jelsing) craft a flow within and between the songs, which either stop for effect or bleed one into the next across a vinyl-minded construction that ultimately asks little more of the listener than a nod along — and even that Holy Grove make easy.

They are not yet 10 seconds into “Death of Magic” before they’ve dug into the first of many oh-hell-yes riffs to come, and the efficiency suits them well as they continue to progress through the album. Structures are straightforward on “Death of Magic” and what follows, but the grooves Holy Grove lock in are fully-toned enough and Vidal‘s vocal arrangements are complex enough that while the band avoid pretense, they prove immersive all the same. “Death of Magic” is telling of several key factors, including its hook, which is something that “Nix” answers in kind even through it’s a full three minutes longer. Jacobs‘ lumbering guitar leads through a mid-paced Sabbathian swing as Emley and Bradford alternate filling in stops during the verse, but though the mix is decently balanced, it’s once again Vidal who shines through as the early forward push takes them into a midsection of layered guitar and toward a standout solo in the song’s second half, foreshadowing a bit of what’s to come later on closing duo “Hanged Man” and “Safe Return,” vocals returning even more soulful and fervent as they build toward the “Nix”‘s big-slowdown finish, which fades out into the psychedelic start of “Holy Grove.”

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An eponymous track on a self-titled LP — especially a self-titled debut — is and should rightly be a focal point, the band are essentially saying, “This is who we are and what we’re about,” and Holy Grove meet that task ably, unfolding from that initial quiet guitar and bass interplay a larger, rolling wash of vibe that continues to hold sway through its verses and the shuffle that emerges under Jacobs‘ solo later on, a smooth transition that leads the way out and fades as Bradford‘s drums begin “Huntress,” touches of Electric Wizard showing up in the interweaving lead and rhythm lines, which drop out to make room for Vidal in the verse but don’t seem to be completely gone as they chug forward. Wisely placed, “Huntress” bursts into faster swinging to close out side A on a more raucous note than some of the relatively laid back fare before it, but that’s just as much preface for what’s to come on “Caravan” as it is an answer to the roll of “Nix” or “Holy Grove.”

Kicking full force into the second half of the album, “Caravan” offers a genuine boogie from Holy Grove, which is territory they’ve come close to but never quite danced all over like they do within, and it works both in the context of mirroring the catchy open they gave Holy Grove with “Death of Magic” and the grander ending to come with the last two tracks, the arrival of which is announced by far back and fading in vocals on “Hanged Man,” the longest cut on the record at 8:49 and arguably the most ambitious as well. It finds its crux somewhere between the unfurling Candlemassian doom of its opening movements and the NWOBHM-meets-Kyuss (think meaner-toned “Green Machine”) gallop that arises past the midpoint, but the really telling factor in all of it is how well Holy Grove command the proceedings throughout, marrying varied styles and ultimately coming out of it with something all the more their own.

“Safe Return” (the second longest track at 7:28) rounds out and answers the Electric Wizardry of the intro to “Huntress” in its own, but also sets its own course. Perhaps more in line with “Nix” or “Holy Grove,” “Safe Return” does indeed feel a bit safe after “Hanged Man,” but its purpose is manifold as the closer in that not only does it tie together the various elements at play across the record, but it expands on how “Huntress” finished side A with its own upbeat turn around a vicious hook delivered by Vidal before it drops out and launches the last build, crashing to a stop that feels all the more sudden considering how fluid the band’s transitions between songs have been all along. It is a debut, so I won’t say Holy Grove feels like the sum total of what Holy Grove have to offer, either in songwriting or execution, but the band does affirm and restate their potential throughout while providing a foundation from which to continue to build, and for the quality they bring and the sense of work done on these tracks, their self-titled will no doubt earn a place among 2016’s more resonant debuts.

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Holy Grove at Heavy Psych Sounds

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3 Responses to “Holy Grove, Holy Grove: Establishing Presence (Plus Full Album Stream)”

  1. Craig Bradford says:

    Hello, it should be noted that drums on this record were performed by me, Craig Bradford, founding member and original drummer for Holy Grove.

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