Gravetemple is Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi and Attila Csihar. Formed in 2006 for a one-off tour in Israel, the formation has continued its activities on and off for the past 15 years. On their latest and second official album Impassable Fears (2017) the trio’s aim was “to break boundaries and find new sonic horizons, challenging their current conceptions of human existence via the channels of musical trance”. The result is a shamanic, constantly shifting, sonically oppressive experimental drone-metal record. Ambarchi’s drumming is spasmodic, O’Malley’s guitars earsplitting yet dynamic, and Csihar’s growling, hissing and chanting barely human. This is sonified existential horror, positioned somewhere between raw black metal, free improvisation and drone metal. Brutal, uncompromising, rowdy and metaphysical music. A must-see for fans of both Sunn O))) as well as Haino/Ambarchi/O’Rourke.

Part of NOISS (Norway–Iceland–Slovakia): New Musics for New Audiences project.