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The New York band Grey Skies Fallen first took shape in 1996 under the name Eve of Mourning before adopting their current moniker the following year. In the quarter-century since then they’ve released a pair of EPs and five albums. The last of those full-lengths, Cold Dead Lands, first saw the light of day in January of last year, with an independent digital release and a CD release by Old Souls Collective. But the album is about to be jointly reissued by GrimmDistribution with Paragon Records and More Hate Productions, and we’re helping to spread the word about that by featuring the album’s title track today.
And so this is one of those situations that isn’t a true premiere, though it will undoubtedly be the first time some of you have heard the song, and thus hopefully will provide a good introduction to newcomers about the immense sonic and emotional power of the record in advance of the April 8th reissue.
Cold Dead Lands represented some changes for the band, as the line-up contracted to the trio of vocalist/guitarist Rick Habeeb, bassist Tom Anderer, and drummer Sal Gregory. The subtraction of keyboards also represented a change in the group’s formulation of melodic doom-death, allowing an even greater focus on the remaining trio’s talents.
With respect to the title track we’re sharing today, the music’s sense of mountainous scale and immense power is evident right from the beginning. It moves forward with hard-hitting drum strikes, granite-heavy bass, panoramic riffs, and Rick Habeeb‘s heart-felt singing, which segues into ravaging growls and vicious snarls.
Glittering leads maneuver through the titanic, wintry soundscape like rivulets of ice, and the music briefly softens and becomes spectral in its atmosphere before rising again to epic heights. As the pace slows the music becomes more bleak and oppressive, and Habeeb’s’s singing, coupled with a wailing extended guitar solo, powerfully convey hopelessness and anguish, pulling hard at the listener’s heart strings as the song staggers ahead like a great wounded beast. The momentum slows even further, and the sensations of shattering sorrow become even more immersive, and earth-shaking.
Credit goes to Keith Moore for engineering the recording and to the great Dan Swanö for mixing and mastering the record. And speaking of legendary greatness, Travis Smith created the cover art.
The three labels are reissuing the album in an edition of 1000 jewel-case CDs with an 8-page booklet and a new design.
https://www.nocleansinging.com/2021/03/22/an-ncs-premiere-grey-skies-fallen-cold-dead-lands/
Video review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgi9z9RZPMg
La banda de doom metal de New York Grey Skies Fallen, lanzaron su nuevo álbum «Cold Dead Lands» en formato físico el 8 de abril de 2021, a través de la coalición de sellos Paragon Records (Usa) y More Hate Records (Rus) con distribución de GrimmDistribution.
Como en alguna ocasión he comentado en algunas de mis reseñas anteriores, en las que he topado con la oportunidad de reseñar bandas de mi genero favorito; el doom metal, considero que es como encontrar una perla en una ostra en un mar de subgéneros de metal.
Este es él caso de la banda de la que me refiero en esta ocasión, una banda tremendamente sugerente ya desde el comienzo y que combinan el extremismo y la agresividad con un sentimiento épico apabullante.
Es amor a primera oída lo que ofrece esta formación norteamericana a mis oídos, una producción excelente y cristalina, a la par que orgánica y potente.
Seis temas de minutaje propio del género simplemente alucinantes todos y cada uno de ellos.
Una banda con una trayectoria muy extensa desde 1999 y que este «Cold Dead Lands» es su quinto trabajo de larga duración. Además, ha sido masterizada por nada más y nada menos que por Dan Swano en los famosos Unisound Studios.
Este power trio de New York, sabe muy bien sonar pesados y lentos, agresivos y épicos, haciendo de su doom metal una experiencia realmente fabulosa.
Han ido con los años depurando su fórmula hasta llegar a este tiempo pandémico, de una manera sobria y efectiva y retratándose como el modelo perfecto de combo doom.
No hay mas que decir que es el disco que más os recomiendo en lo que va de año, y mi numero uno de mi lista de ediciones discográficas en 2021 y mi primera valoración con la máxima nota de las que he realizado hasta la fecha para Broken Tomb.
This is a re-release of the album that the band put out themselves in 2020. Once again, the band delivers a unique approach to their style with an original & powerful vocal delivery and a truly dismal atmosphere. The band also shows their growth with their song writing and how they continue to get stronger with each release while ignoring the underground trends. The production is top notch & organic- this is their most professional to date. Things can only get gloomier!
Established in 1996, Grey Skies Fallen have been honing their Progressive Death Doom style across a Demo, 2 EP's, a Single & 4 Full Lengths with multiple live performances across the United States (notedly Milwaukee Metal Fest XIV) to lead up to this 5th Full Length "Cold Dead Lands" which the band initially self released as 300 CD copies under independent label name Old Souls Collective in January 2020.
Mixing & Mastering done by Unisound Recordings - Dan Swano (Edge Of Sanity, Katatonia, Bloodbath, Witherscape & more.) Album cover art is again done by Travis Smith whose portfolio includes (King Diamond, Death, Nevermore and we could go on for days...).
This is the second album from Grey Skies Fallen that is affiliated with Paragon Records - the first being the 2014 CD release of "The Many Sides Of Truth."
https://www.facebook.com/melodylanewebzine/posts/1522644798089853
Incrível como uma banda com já quase trinta anos de carreira e de grande qualidade – daquilo que pude apreciar – me passou completamente ao lado. Os norte-americanos Grey Skies Fallen juntam o death/doom mais melódico – como que a fazer um cruzamento entre os Anathema dos primórdios e os My Dying Bride mais recentes mas sem serem uma cópia nem de uns nem de outros – como um sentido melancólico que não vai para o temível choradinho lamechas. Bom gosto, extremo, é o que temos ao longo de seis faixas que totalizam quase uma hora de duração. Uma excelente surpresa e serviço público feito por parte da GrimmDistribution/Satanath Records.
The rerelease of New Yorkers’ Grey Skies Fallen 2020 record ‘Cold Dead Lands’ through Grimm Distribution will be something of a highlight of 2021 for a lot of fans of bleak yet melodic doom. This is the band’s fifth effort, and it’s been mastered by Dan Swano at Unisound Studios with artwork from Travis Smith.
Opener ‘Visions from the Last Sunset’ has a wonderful, Candlemass feel to it with mourning riffs rumbling from beneath a soaring, powerful vocal performance. Poignant melodies weave like fireflies through a misted forest, bringing flashes of light to a morose crush while vocalist Rick Habeeb delivers an impassioned, funereal sermon. It is one of the year’s most potent openers for me, and sets a mighty tone for the rest of the album to follow. The title track has more of a death/doom feel to it, with harsher vocals and heaving melancholy culminating in a beautifully evocative solo. ‘Procession to the Tombs’ is defiantly brutal, a lumbering deathly tribute to Triptykon or Swallow the Sun with towering roars and dark riffs.
When Grey Skies Fallen hit their stride, they bring back misty-eyed memories of the first few Anathema albums, or a more harrowing take on the work of Solitude Aeternus, particularly the imperious ‘Ways of the World’ or the almost progressive death metal leanings of ‘Picking Up the Pieces’, a song that is one of the most impressive pieces of music I’ve heard this year. Closing with ‘After the Summer Comes the Fall’, Grey Skies Fallen have written one of the best complex and interesting doom records I’ve heard in a long time. Not content with merely being slow and heavy, ‘Cold Dead Lands’ moves in a different way, travels a different path and it is a hell of a journey. I love this.
https://thoseonceloyal.wordpress.com/2021/05/25/review-grey-skies-fallen-cold-dead-lands/
Nein, ich werde mir jetzt nicht wünschen, dass November ist und ich vom grauen Himmel erdrückt werde. Auch wenn die Mucke von Grey Skies Fallen natürlich vorzüglich in den Spätherbst passt und ihr aktuelles Album, “Cold Dead Lands“, passend auch schon im Winter (2020) veröffentlicht wurde. Denn gute Musik, auch wenn sie nicht in die Frühlingssaison passt, ist immer genießbar. Und Grey Skies Fallen machen sehr, wirklich sehr gute Musik.
Doom Metal spielt das Trio aus New York City, und zwar Doom Metal der richtig schweren Sorte. Sechs Stücke sind auf “Cold Dead Lands” versammelt, zwischen fünf und elf Minuten lang sind sie, und jedes einzelne überzeugt. Ganz klar: Hier sind echte Profis am Werk am Werk, die ganz genau wissen, was sie tun – und die es ganz einfach auch draufhaben: vom spannenden Songwriting über mitunter herausragende Riffs (Wahnsinn: “Picking up the Pieces”, ab Minute 6:04!) bis hin zum wirklich fantastischen Gesang — egal ob clean oder guttural.
Ich will gar nicht länger drumherum reden: “Cold Dead Lands” ist ein monumentales Album, das sich 9 von 10 Hellfire-Punkten verdient hat und aktuell trotz Sonnenschein in Dauerrotation läuft. Fett!
https://www.hellfire-magazin.de/grey-skies-fallen-cold-dead-lands/