Black Grev

Black Grev... I always wondered if it would turn up on here or not. A somewhat controversial little number, shrouded in mystery and rumour. Some key points... 1.) Why are the notes missing? There are no notes. Perfumer Josh Lobb opted to withhold an official notes breakdown, presumably to leave something up to the imagination of the wearer. Possibly also because he's a bit of a joker, as evidenced by the even MORE elusive *Red Grev*. 2.) This shadowy figure exists in numbers of around 50 bottles. Black Grev was *not* a "typical" Slumberhouse release. Because of the super-limited nature, there was a bit of a frenzy surrounding the drop of this one, which was.... Unconventional. 3.) In addition to a limited offering that sold out in approximately 0.418 milliseconds, there's a bit of Black Grev lore behind this one. I won't get into it, but this was something many people heard whispers of - stirrings from the wood. Many thought it was a hoax, and wouldn't actually come to fruition. Needless to say, it was eagerly anticipated, its existence questioned, its population, critically endangered, and it's origin story, not fully known. 4.) Stitched together, you have a perfect storm for a somewhat controversial, highly sought after, and extremely limited offering, of which very little is known, and much is speculated. So, what do we know? Well, to start, the obvious... It shares it's name with Grev, the criminally underappreciated soft, reserved, icy fougere-ish number, with a clove note to die for. I guess we can consider Black Grev a flanker, of sorts. I'm slightly uncomfortable with putting "flanker" and "Slumberhouse" in the same sentence, but let's just breathe... It's not difficult to spot the relationship between the two. When compared side-by-side, one can quickly spot some of Grev's lineage within its shadowy relative. Where "Blue Grev" has this sort of gemstone polish to it - clean, brisk, almost bracing frosty wintergreen breath with a sparkling snow-shimmer gleen atop stiff pine needles, soft powder, and clovey spiced warmth, Black Grev takes away the clean icy topcoat, drops the powdery poof, and drives the cloven spice deep down into a dark, almost bitter direction. It's as if the pristine sparkling icy winter wonderland that is Grev, began to slowly warm, over eons. The ice age has long since ended, and what remains is a deep, dark, damp overgrown primordial forest, with dense gnarled and twisted conifers completely shrouded in lush moss. The forest floor is damp and dank - still waterlogged from the Ancient Grev Snowmelt. Peculiar psychoactive herbs and fungi emerge from the wet leaf litter. Is it wormwood? No, not quite. Licorice? Maybe, but I'm inclined to think otherwise. Horehound isn't far off. Fennel, maybe. There's some type of spicy-camphoraceous-herbal element that somehow juuuust avoids any real connotations of green. The Great Cloven Heart of Grev still appears, but it's now shrouded beneath this mysterious medicinal herbal aroma. I do, however, understand why some recall a certain similarity to Vikt. To me, they're much more different than alike, with Vikt translating as more overtly anisic/licorice, and much more green. Ah. Laurel leaf... Perhaps Vikt's camphoraceous laurel leaf is lending to the cool, medicinal astringency here. More mossy than coniferous. More damp herbal than icy fresh. However, there's still a prominent undefined element that I'm not entirely certain of. It could be black tea, and others have voiced this suspicion as well. If it is, it's more like the damp, spent leaves, after the tea has been poured out, rather than a classic common dry tea accord. As it wears on, this horehoundy herbal "licorice" facet wilts and withers, losing much of its "green" character, and trends further away from particularly herbal, as it takes on a slightly savoury, **slightly** metallic nuance that, personally, briefly hints at.... **Artichoke** And then it's gone. It's just a fleeting suggestion, but it does remind me that, whatever makes up this unusual herbal accord, it *would* seem as though there is in fact a green, vegetal material somewhere in there. Aside from that, the perfume is dry. Not much in terms of conspicuous sweetness, and whatever musks are here, they're played with a very gentle touch, not lending any noticeable fuzziness, creaminess, heady buzz or fluffy textures. As a result, it feels a bit more natural-leaning, than say Grev or Mond, and wears more similarly to Vikt, or even Norne. It doesn't scream, it doesn't bomb, and it definitely doesn't hella. It might slap... But here's the thing... It doesn't matter all that much. Josh has decided that, for whatever reason, he'd prefer to leave this one with some secrets unspoken. And you know what? I dig it. Slumberhouse fan culture is.... Well, it's unique! I don't always love what we as the collectors turn these into, and Slumbernuts can be especially insufferable... These mythical unicorn whalez can serve more to deepen the lore, the obsession, and the exclusivity of Slumberhouse Perfumes, while never actually being respected at face value. With that said, I'm particularly fond of Black Grev. In part, because it IS one of those mythical beasts that will be spoken of with hushed reverence, and is the sort of "second generation" Slumberhouse superwhale. Sort of how Zahd was a special treat when it dropped a decade ago, for a select lucky few. I think Black Grev will stand as the "Zahd of the '20s", and I feel incredibly privileged to be among the 50 or so people who were lucky enough to receive one. But also, it's just a really damn cool one. It's different. Its left-of-the-dial, and it's decidedly NOT crafted to please everyone. I like its divisive character. I like its complex, amorphous trajectory. I like that I may never know what the hell it really is, and I'm left with my imagination, and a bit of Lobb Lore. My favourite way to look at Black Grev is not as an Evolution of Grev... but as a prehistoric Proto-Grev. Many many moons ago, Grev was a very different place than the glistening, ice-encased, frosty winter wonderland we know it as today. Before the great freeze, Grev was a lush, dense, humid forest, full of swamps and riparian thickets, and moss everywhere. A forest so thick and so dense and so still, that neither light, nor air made it far enough to show their influence. It wasn't until the great freeze, and the glaciers carving their way back and forth, clearing the thick, washing away the muck and the marsh and the moss, clearing the way, polishing the landscape, and encasing everything in an icy blanket, that the Black Woods of Grev finally saw the daylight, breathed in the bracing air, and stood frozen in time, in the still, sterile, sparkling serene winter woodland clearing we've always known it to be. But once upon a time, in an era long forgotten... There was Black Grev.

All of the natural oils in the turquoise Grev were replaced with their absolute counterparts and a number of synthetic/structural materials in the original were removed entirely and replaced with a selection of herbal and vegetal materials. Four mint materials were used, including peppermint absolute and spearmint oleoresin. These materials, along with notes of ravinsara and star anise CO2, create a cooling and refreshing accord that is buttressed with fractionated extracts of citron and pink pepper as well as melissa CO2 while a generous dose of orris butter pads the underbelly. The very definition of an anti-linear composition: the first couple hours of this fragrance are some of the most notable shapeshifting olfactory displays you’ll likely ever find in a perfume before gradually stabilizing into a mossy/wet-stone/minty old school herbal cologne. Despite the forbidding black hue, this perfume wears quite nice in warm weather. The combination of these quality mint materials help extend its stay for hours into the drydown, a rare quality for a mint fragrance. In the most basic of terms, this black version of Grev is a cooling, spicy, citrusy, licorice-y mossy cologne. It has far more heft to it than the original Grev, but it is not a thick black wall of absolutes, ala Norne. Air flows through, it has high rafters. Josh toyed with the concentration of the 30 mls (extrait) and the 100 mls (EdC). The EdC has a slightly different formulation with the citrus and cooling notes being elevated along with some additional green/vine/ivy notes, not too sharp, just enough to properly counterbalance the citrus/mint/anise.

A wallop of big, fat licorice in the opening. This might choke some people out, especially the ones that haven’t experienced any Slumberhouse fragrance before in their life. This dries down after 15 mins, maybe less. I detect clear resemblance to Norne, mainly cloves and a tiny hint of black hemlock/fir playing in the background. This is one of the main parts of Black Grev to me. The other significant part of Black Grev is tea, but here I’m not sure what kind of tea is it, actually. Might be good quality strong black tea, or possibly smoky Lapsang Souchong. The tea however, is rather subtle and delicate, I had no problems with detecting it within the scent. Digging deeper into the drydown reveals the more known „climates” of Josh Lobb’s signature - I detect the good ol’ slumberade - the very same I detected in Sova, or Baque. I can tell Sova and Black Grev are distant relatives. Very dark, resinous, mysterious and „evil” in a way - that’s what Black Grev feels like while wearing. Longevity and sillage are very good. I like Black Grev, I think that after Mond and Winter Kiste releases Josh kinda’ wanted to go back to the themes that made him and the brand famous, and that people loved. It’s not my type of a scent, but wearing it was sort of a pleasant experience. I wish he released more stuff in that genre.

Black Grev is a naturalistic beauty from the mighty Slumberhouse. Imagine thick, jet black slugs of licorice sitting amongst earthen clay and stewed cloves. Fresh, black, oolong tea and mulled spearmint create a gorgeous set and setting to feel like you’re traversing through a spring time swamp in a haunted coniferous forest. If Josh came out and said this was an all natural composition featuring only absolutes, natural isolates and essential oils I wouldn’t doubt it. Performance is modest as it feels natural on the skin. There’s a delicate nature to the blending here that allows so much spaciousness in the air around you but up close on skin it’s that familiar Slumberaide that feels like a gargantuan wall of scent. Ultimately this is all about spicy black cloves, black licorice, black tea, black spruce, black fit and a gorgeous mossy backbone. I get 8 hours on skin with a brief drydown of what smells like Sandalwood as well. Projection only lasts around 2 hours max. Update I want to point out as well that there’s an incredible Mysore-esque drydown that is just WOW! Think buttery, creamy, Mysore mixed with gentle tendrils of oakmoss and coniferous warmth. Just really, really good stuff.