Grief

Grief never faced claims of performing thrash metal, speed metal, or grindcore. Acts within those styles typically relied on breakneck tempos, yet this outfit’s sludgy doom metal introduced extremely slow riffs into the metal underground. Black Sabbath supplied a major influence, while Saint Vitus earned frequent mention as a core reference point among doom practitioners. Candlemass supplies a further parallel: the Swedish epic doom metal powerhouse favored ultra-slow riffs and shared with Grief and Saint Vitus a markedly dark, gloomy outlook. Despite the heaviness and intensity of both Candlemass and Sabbath, those bands retained strong melodic and musical qualities; Grief instead pursued a jagged, noisy, harsh, and brutally dissonant path. Lead singer Jeff Hayward adopted tortured, throat-shredding screaming vocals standard in death metal, black metal, and grindcore, and the resulting blend of grindcore-like vocals with slow, Sabbath-derived riffs established Grief as one of the more distinctive alternative metal bands to surface in the early 1990s. The Sabbath-minded quality of those riffs helped the band connect with stoner rock listeners, a scene where such riffs commonly appear. Grief in fact exerted substantial influence on stoner rock. Although the group never qualified as stoner rock itself, enthusiasts of stoner acts such as Eyehategod and Orange Goblin generally responded positively to its output. Possessing only a small cult following, Grief nonetheless laid groundwork for Sourvein, another band pairing slow, Sabbath-influenced riffs with a death metal-ish vocal approach.

Based in Boston, Grief formed in December 1991 when drummer Pete Donovan joined three ex-members of Disrupt: Hayward, guitarist Jay Stiles, and bassist Randy Odierno. Their debut appeared as a self-released 7" vinyl EP on Grievance Records. Across a ten-year span the band issued several albums, among them 1995’s Come to Grief on Century Media, 1996’s Miserably Ever After on Theologian, 1998’s Torso on Pessimiser, and 2000’s And Man Becomes the Hunted, also on Pessimiser and the group’s final studio record. Lineup changes proved frequent. Donovan and Stiles departed in 1993, after which drummer Rick Johnson and guitarist Steve Nelson joined. Johnson’s later exit prompted a succession of drummers; for a time Odierno handled drums rather than bass, requiring temporary bassist Eric Harrison. Odierno eventually left, succeeded by Tim Morse of Anal Cunt fame and then Chuck Conlon, who played on And Man Becomes the Hunted. Johnson returned briefly in late 2000 yet soon departed again. Instead of recruiting additional drummers, Grief disbanded in 2001. Southern Lord released Turbulent Times the following year, gathering Grief recordings that had gone out of print or never previously appeared.