Sceneazine.com
Grüzer to release debut EP, Path of Buzzards, November 8
By John Huiett
C
olumbia, SC, metal/sludge/doom powerhouse
Grüzer will release their debut EP, Path of Buzzards, on November 8, with a CD release show at the
Art Bar in Columbia. The six-song set will be the band’s
first release since bursting onto the Columbia music
scene in January.
Two songs from the EP, the title track and
“Voidwalker,” have already been making waves on social media, with “Voidwalker” being picked up by Rock
Rage Radio in September.
The band’s sound is steeped in menacing mid-tempo anger and rumbling minor key breakdowns. It’s a
sound that is captured with precision on the EP that
was self-produced by the band at the Jam Room in Columbia, with bassist Matt Campbell taking on most of
the production duties and Jay Matheson engineering.
Claude Spurlock’s vocals are equal parts brutality and
beauty, as he moves between razor-edged growls and
clean, fluid melody lines. The triple-guitar attack of Travis Nicholson, Jason Brown and Steve Moore creates a
dense wall of thunderous woe that is at once raw and
refined. The rhythm section of Campbell and drummer
Jay Crosby thumps so thick you can almost feel the kick
drum pedal slamming into your chest.
The power of the music is relentless, seems to bleed
from the speakers, and leaves you with a feeling that
danger is waiting for you deep in the shadows. That
sense of an impending threat is no accident, according
to Spurlock. The EP’s title, and the title of its flagship
song, is another way of saying “trail of the dead.”
“’Path of Buzzards,’ the song, is about no matter what
you do, it seems you’re cursed,” Spurlock says. “And
even though that seems to be the case you have people
that stick by you through the bad, and those people that
do you would even kill for.”
The EP is a stomp through a shadowy trail of thorns
and dark corners of danger, designed to separate the
merely curious from the purely devoted, and snag some
new converts out of the
gloom along the way.
“[It’s] is an all-killerno-filler six-song bulldozer to break down
the walls that divide the
most true metal head to
the hard rock fan trying to get in to heavier
music,” Spurlock says.
“’Path of Buzzards’ is
not only the heaviest
record I’ve ever been a
part of, but it is also the
most diverse musically. Like an audio roller
coaster it goes from harsh, gut-punching riffs to calm,
beautiful atmospheric melodies.”
The members of Grüzer are Columbia metal scene
veterans. Spurlock alone has been at the helm of three
metal bands between 1994 and 2013, Enable Kain,
Diavolo, and ShaoKahn, before fronting Grüzer. It’s that
rich history that drives the band’s songwriting.
“We are a collective,” Spurlock explains. “There really isn’t one songwriter for the band. We present our
ideas to each other and decide if we like them as a group.
With so much experience in this band, to approach it
any other way would be foolish.”
A unique part of that collective is the band’s
three-guitar assault. Nicholson says that while the approach is new each of the band’s members, it didn’t take
long for it become second nature.
“This is the first time for all of us to be involved with
three guitars,” Nicholson says. “Jason and I have been
playing together since we were teenagers and have really become one with our riff writing. We can almost
always know where the other is going without saying a
word. Having Steve in the band is a huge bonus. This
guy is a total badass when it comes to flavor. He adds a
lot in the vein of harmonies, solos, subtle touches
and overall mood.”
And while having a
unique musical flavor
is rewarding, it doesn’t
come without its challenges – even if they are
good challenges.
“It’s not the writing
with three guitar players
that’s tough,” Nicholson
says. “The tough part is
having so many great
ideas on the table and
trying to pick out the best
ones.”
If there is a buzz about
the release of Path of Buzzards it’s due in no small
part to the fact that if
Grüzer is on the bill you
can almost guarantee a
packed house. Nicholson
says they fill rooms because they approach their
live shows the same way
they approached the recording of the EP.
“Ma