A couple of minutes into the first of the three long tracks that constitute _The Grimalkin_, the listener will have probably noticed this is an unusual album. In their own words, German duo Noekk create a mixture of prog rock, folk touches and even some doom metal on _The Grimalkin_, yet this still falls short of explaining the complicated song structures you will find on this album. This means it will take an open mind for this type of thing and plenty of patience to get into _The Grimalkin_, which will otherwise just seem like a jumbled mess. While I am not entirely convinced it all works well together, there is certainly plenty that only really falls into place after a while on this album. While its composition may have taken a long time, the actual recording of the album was reportedly very much an impromptu affair, with a lot of spontaneity and plenty of first takes making it onto the disc -- which isn't a sign of any real sloppiness in this case.

Knowing these guys used to be responsible for Empyrium, it's hard for me to judge _The Grimalkin_ purely for what it is. Granted, the music is so outrageously different from Empyrium that only in the back of my mind do I get this annoying feeling that a few years back I enjoyed their musical output so immeasurably more. Indeed I also happen to prefer the latest album by Schwadorf's other current band, The Vision Bleak. These aren't fair comparisons though, as the genres involved and the very direction of the music is entirely different in all cases. For what it's worth, _The Grimalkin_ is a reasonably interesting prog album with enough unusual elements to make it worth a few listens; however a number of weaker sections in its lengthy compositions, as well as a general inability to fully capture my interest or avoid just sounding convoluted, mean it is unlikely I will be going back to it very often in the future.