CoC : Grey - First Shade of... : Review

Grey - _First Shade of..._
(Avantgarde Music, 2005)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)

Black metal done with a doom slant -- or doom played with a black metal sound -- is something I am usually very willing to try out. Therefore, I am by no means bothered by Avantgarde's recent forays into that field: first Beatrik and Shining (to some extent), and now Grey. Alas, although they are all decent releases, none of them really impressed me, and Grey's album is the weakest of the bunch. The main problem with Grey is that they tend to fall through the same cracks that have swallowed others before them, in that their music often crosses the border from doomy to just plain repetitive. In other words, some riffs just weren't made to be repeated so much with nothing else going on. In addition, the black vocals are unremarkable, and the drum sound is somewhat annoying.

The whole purpose was perhaps to create a cold, mechanical and bleak collection of tracks, and while it manages to sound somewhat sinister, the album leaves me mostly indifferent. Compared to a band like Blut Aus Nord, Grey still need to develop their sound quite a lot. Having said all this, the album is by no means terrible or the band inept; there are a few good riffs and passages, but nothing extraordinary. Considering some of the other bands in the genre out there, this record simply provides few reasons for the listener to feel like spinning it very often or for a very long time.

Contact: http://www.avantgardemusic.com

(article published 20/6/2005)