OUTERWORLD - Tracklisting
Dark Souls
Jar Of Leeches
Lucifer Smiled
Outerworld
Silent Screams
Disease
Band Members:
Freddy Allen / Bass & Vocals
Jim Merz / Drums
Ian Hopkins / Guitars
Review
Outerworld is the debut full length album from Colorado based Psych Doom/Stoner Metal specialists - Sun Of Grey. The album is powered by a bleak style of Doom/Stoner Metal with the band adding a world-weary and apocalyptic edge to their music. Not exactly the most uplifting of sounds but Sun Of Grey set their pitch out early and stay true to their the “end of the world” beliefs with this album.
The album is a superbly constructed album with many different flavours of the Doom/Stoner Metal variety with flashes of Psych Rock and Fuzz Rock being constantly added to the majority of the 6 songs contained on the album. Most of the songs run past the 7 minute mark and the band feel right at home playing multi-layered elements of Progressive Rock/Metal that feel quite cinematic especially with the dirty and heavy fuzzy grooves the band have written for this album.
The vocals are varied and handled superbly well when matched against the bleak and almost soulful grooves on the majority of the songs.
Opening song - Dark Souls - starts off very low-key before Sun Of Grey adds many different levels of noisy and violent Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with the thumping bass guitar impressing myself the most. The heavy drums and guitars soon dictate the action and the song ends up quite differently from where it started from. That’s a good thing as the song moves along at its own slow pace. The atmosphere is one of impending DOOM and the bone-crunching guitars only allows the band to endear themselves with whoever is listening
If you dig bands such as Alice In Chains, BEASTWARS, Summoner and High On Fire then Sun Of Grey play a similar style of music with the focus on pulsating grooves and pissed-off confident vocals that are easily helped by the top-notch lyrics that appear on this album.
The other 5 songs on the album show that Sun Of Grey have a wealth of knowledge and experience around them. As the songs on offer are rich in atmosphere and brimming with ideas that had myself nodding with absolute agreement.
Songs such as: Dark Souls, Jar Of Leeches, Lucifer Smiled and Diseased are the songs that standout for myself personally. With the music offering many different styles of Apocalyptic Doom/Stoner Metal with a real “Alternative” feel. The band appear most confident on these tracks but there isn’t a bad song on this album. This is a band in super-confident form and playing a great style of Modern Rock/Metal with thrilling “Sci-fi” themes leading the way. This album could have easily ended up being OTT but there is a sense of grounded reality to Sun Of Grey’s music that makes it more appealing to listeners.
OUTERWORLD is an album that is making the right moves within the Doom/Stoner Metal community and is a truly exciting debut album and one you will be playing for days on end.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Links:
Facebook | BandCamp
