Grayceon – “Grayceon ” – [Vendlus]

It’s not until 5+ minutes into this, that Grayceon lays bare their plan.
Overnight, while the cow was jumping over the moon, the cello ran off
with the metal guitarist. One can imagine them meeting on some classical
crossroads, a Fautian handshake with Wagner in the air?? Or really it
might have been at an old Amber Asylum show, cellist Jackie Perez Gratz
served in that exquisite project. The lead off track has that sort of
“God Speed You Emperor” the-world-is-weighty-with-sorrow. But on “Song
for You” it’s definitely a devil’s rave-up, and the cello gets just a
little amped up. Gratz’s voice can have that hint of opera, but then
she can shriek nicely too (reminds me just a tad of Jen from Submission
Hold, especially when guitarist Max Doyle adds his vocals as a lower
more monotonic root). Drummer Zack Farwell is at his best when they
let him get Vulcanic behind the kit and beat the hell out of it. A lot
more composition going on here than you might expect, they don’t just
ride the novelty of their instrumental marriage. The last two tracks
are longer explorations, really suites of several songs united. Too
proggy for the doom or crunch crowd?? Their loss! Gratz’s cello
occasionally demands to slow things down, thin the sound out for a
bit rather than keep up a metallic pummell pace at all times. Still
she can fly with Doyle when she needs to, I bet they are killer live.

-Thurston Hunger