"A sonic exploration of the boundaries that separate worlds, Berlin's Grimrik blend amazing synthwork with a cosmic sense of scope. The 80's retro sounds evoke Vangelis and Moroder, while the dark atmospherics harken back to the likes of Wongraven and era I Mortiis. The end result id not quite dungeon music and not quite sci-fi fantasy. It is Tolkein meets Lovecraft. The endless unfathomable void of space being harnessed atop the tower of Isengard.
In one sense it is closer to progressive electronics of Wendy Carlos and the Krautrock of Tangerine Dream as much as the atmospheric synthesizers of the black metal offshoot projects of the 90s. Songs such as 'Im Nebel', 'Der erste Kontakt', 'Vor Dem Sprung', 'Vorsichtige Schritte', and 'Letzte Zweifel' are delicate yet malevolent ambient pieces that draw the listener into a near trance of swirling and droning synths over which light melodies play in the cavernous space created. While the likes of 'Teleportiert (Reprise)', 'Im freien Fall (album version)', and 'Erlösung' add subtle beats and in the case of the final track some epic guitar work to create tracks with a little more drive and mass appeal that will entice more than just fans of ambient music."
"Grimrik is, on paper, a fairly new project, being founded in 2014 by a reclusive German musician who goes by the same monicker when playing drums and keyboards in underground black metal/dungeon synth outfit Arath, founded in 2011. The man behind it, however, is no newcomer to music, having been active in the underground German metal scene since 1994 and having released in 1996 one of the first albums in the style known today as dungeon synth. Faithful to the old school tradition of crossbreeding black metal with dark ambient, Grimrik plays dark and atmospheric electronic music; Die Mauern der Nacht (German for "the walls of night") is his sophomore album, following his first effort, Eisreich, which created quite a stir in the underground black metal and dungeon synth communities."
