UMUR "Grimmthurs" is a self-titled 5 track, 13:08 minutes long EP release by Danish, Odense based death metal act Grimmthurs. The EP is a self-released affair and can be purchased through the band´s Bandcamp profile. It was released in May 2013. The EP features four older reworked tracks and one new track.

The music on the EP is old school influenced death metal with slight nods toward thrash, black and traditional heavy metal. However this is most of all old school sounding death metal with brutal growling vocals and heavy riffing. The five tracks on the EP are all relatively short, but the band are pretty successful at cramming their many ideas into the short track format, without the tracks ever sounding too busy. In fact the tracks are generally well composed and consistent in quality. Personally I prefer the short and über heavy opening track "Morgengry" and the brutal closing track "Repent", but the three other tracks are great too. The thrash metal influence is mostly heard in "LSH" and "Faeton". The slight traditional heavy metal influence that the band also have in their music is best heard in the latter mentioned.

The band are generally well playing and the EP features a relatively well sounding production. I have a few minor issues with the sound production like the clicky bass drum sound (to my ears a more organic sounding bass drum sound would have suited the music better) and the fact that the vocals on most tracks are placed slightly too low in the mix (not on "Morgengry" though, where they sound nice, brutal and high in the mix). It is however a matter of production/mixing choices, and it´s not necessarily an issue to other listeners.

Overall the "Grimmthurs" EP is a great release by Grimmthurs and fans of old school death metal with an occasional old school thrashy twist should find lots to like here. The band are not terribly original sounding, but they obviously play exactly the type of music that they love and they perform it with passion and conviction, which in my world is the most important thing. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

J-Man Drawing inspiration from old school death, thrash, and black metal, the self-titled EP from the Danish collective known as Grimmthurs is a short, satisfying, and devastating blow to the face that should leave most extreme metal enthusiasts begging for more. Although the music we're dealing with here isn't totally earth-shattering from a stylistic perspective, Grimmthurs's old school aesthetic is instantly likeable and the riffs used on this EP have a level of memorability that surpasses most of their contemporaries.

Grimmthurs is primarily a death metal release, but some of the riffs (like the ones in "Faeton") have been clearly influenced by thrash metal tradition. The opening track, "Morgengry", sounds inspired by death/doom and there's also some black metal blasting in "LSH", so it's clear that Grimmthurs borrows influence from more than one style of extreme metal on this EP. This is still mostly a death metal release, though, and fans of the genre will be delighted to know that the music is held to a high level of quality from start to finish. The musicianship is strong across the board, with guitarists Lars Pedersen and fellow writer Kim Ebensgaard Jensen dishing out great riffage and leads from all fronts. The production doesn't sound fully professional to me, but its raw aesthetic and fat lower end still manage to suit Grimmthurs's music really well.

All in all, Grimmthurs does exactly what a great EP should do - it gives a good preview of what the band is like, and it makes me very curious to hear what they'll have to offer in a full-length format. Though it's a bit on the short side, I don't think any fan of death metal would regret hearing what Grimmthurs has to offer here.