The Third Eye

Last year, The Third Eye wrote a glowing review of an experimental/stoner rock album called Chapter 4 from a Croatian band called Mycena. One of Mycena’s members – Aleksandar Vrhovec – is also part of another freaky psychedelic band called Grinded Grin, which returned in October with a new album called Fledge.

Grinded Grin is an experimental rock collective from Croatia that plays psychedelic stoner rock with some progressive and ethno elements. Their members change depending on the vision of each album, and through improvisation, they delve into post-rock and often through metal and free jazz. The instrumental madness is all great stuff to listen to.

About Grinded Grin and Fledge

Grinded Grin was founded by Aleksandar Vrhovec in 2005, and after hibernation for 13 years, the band was re-animated and re-shaped in several ways. Their album Reset from 2018 was written for top-world jazz musicians, and in the Pandemic Year of Our Lord 2020, they formed as a collective from Koprivnica.

In 2021, Grinded Grin launched a series of five albums (Terra, Paramnesia, Biota, Talk, and Orison). For Vrhovac, this massive burst of creativity was intended to gather the most suitable local musicians for any improvisational jamming scenario. The concept of the recordings was to capture the feeling from the room where everyone’s playing together and building on each other at the given moment, without verbal agreement.

In these jam sessions, Vrhovec alternately played guitar and synth, while the rest of the team was Igor Vidaković on drums, Leonardo Ivačić and Karlo Cmrk on bass guitar; Petar Unger on saxophone, flute, and vocals, and Vedran Momčilović on saxophone.

Also in 2021, the recording of Grinded Grin’s latest album, Fledge, started, released on October 13, 2023. There was a shift in production, and the sound was more focused on progressive rock and mantra riffs.

The Songs

Grinded Grin’s Fledge blasts out of the gate with “Aperature” and a wild jumble of noise, including freak-out, Coltrane-like saxophone playing. “Aperature” was a single off the album accompanied by a video featuring Nina Kraljić as a guest musician. The song’s musical style is progressive/psych rock with ehtno vocals by Kraljić. The track was recorded throughout 2021 and 2022 in several sessions, and the album and song were conceived as a double quartet: two drums, two bass guitars, a guitar, a saxophone, and, on top of all that, an ethnic vocalist and virtuoso Leo Beslać adding several layers on synth.

“Nail Wrap” is another lengthy song at more than seven minutes. There’s a heaviness to this track that makes the metal influences stand out more, and the repetition of the guitar riff hits with a mantric intensity. Relja Kekez pounds away at the drums, other, unique various percussion can be heard, the spacey synth whines and wails, and there’s occasional flourishes of saxophone. There’s a bit of something for everyone on “Nail Wrap.”

“Anthropoid” is the shortest track at five minutes, forty seconds, featuring the exotic, ehtno vocals of Nina Kraljić. Nina’s wordless vocals guide us through the funky psychedelic soundscape like a mystical navigator, and I especially liked the guitar riff in this one, which repeats over and over to induce a trance-like-state.

“Endlessly” brings a more progressive rock feel, with a guitar riff that sounds slightly like something from Tool. This is also a track where Vedran Momčilović’s saxophone playing shines the most. The eight-plus-minute song features plenty of room for extended saxophone soloing.

“Rencounter” closes the album with a slinky sound that I thought was coming from a synth but I could be wrong. Either way, it’s super cool and weird. The track is a drum duel that was recorded live, and it may be the best drumming you hear on a psychedelic/stoner record this year.

Final Thoughts

The Third Eye loved Mycena’s Chapter 4, and now we’re also fans of Aleksandar Vrhovec’s other band, Grinded Grin. Fledge is a fantastic psychedelic album with tight musicianship that combines the elements of other genres like progressive rock and ethno into a potent blend of great music.

Grinded Grin has tons of other albums out there for your listening pleasure, too, so head to Bandcamp and scoop up their digital discography for the stunning deal of $2.50. You won’t regret it.

Support Grinded Grin by finding them on Bandcamp or YouTube.

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