April 27th, 2016 
Kacy Raby 
Artist: Greaver
Album: The Faun
Genre: Post-Hardcore
Label: Cardigan Records
At one point in our lives, we all love someone or something. And at another point we all lose that someone or something. This is the circle of life. As Mr. Vonnegut so aptly put it, “and so it goes…” Music has the power to either heal or pour massive amounts of salt onto an already burning wound. With their full-length, The Faun, post-hardcore concept rockers Greaver somehow manage to do both at exactly the same time.
Taking in the perfect amount of the best post-hardcore influences over the past decade, Greaver has crafted a searing story about loss, realization, horror, hate, revenge, and satisfaction. The album begins, and is later split, by instrumental, heavy, shoegazey tracks backing voice messages being left by a woman named Morgan who is grieving for her lost lover. As the record progresses, we hear her slowly come to a grim realization and swear revenge for her lover’s murderer. These songs almost sound like Come Now, Sleep-era As Cities Burn if they were even more brooding.
Between these exposition-driven interludes are blistering, dynamic, heavy-hitting songs told from the point of view of the narrator, Leon. His spirit follows Morgan’s actions as she mourns her lost love and carries out a dreadful deed. In the first non-interlude track, “A Poisoned Well,” the four members of the band use their vocals to harmonize screams and bounce back and forth off one another in a headbang-worthy frenzy reminiscent of a longer selection from the library of a band like Pianos Become The Teeth. Later, in the driving “Earth Rune,” dischordal guitars and low, chanting vocals—that one would expect on a Fear Before album—set the tone for an off-kilter lurch.
The standout track on this album comes with “Moonlight, Snow.” As the most melodic track on the release, it also packs one of the most emotional punches heard so far. Vocalist Michael Rozier exasperatedly asks through Morgan’s eyes, “When you look at him, what do you see? An empty vessel? Is it filthy? When I look at him, what do you feel? Your hateful disguise, is it real?!”
With this effort, Greaver have crafted an engaging story of a racially-driven murder of a daughter’s lover at the hands of her prejudiced father, and they’ve formed it with intensely emotional, hard-hitting post-hardcore. With this as a starting point, this band has the potential to make a huge mark in this scene.
SCORE: 8/10
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