Sun Of Grey - Outerworld (CD)

"Dystopian doom of the highest order" is how Desert Psychlist described Colorado's trio Sun of Grey's self-titled debut EP "Sun of Grey" and considering that it only contained two songs that is some praise indeed. Now you might think after garnering, not only plaudits from Desert Psychlist but also many of those who's opinions really matter in this scene, a full album would follow in due course. Unfortunately that was not the case and it has been a full three years since "Sun of Grey" surfaced to melt our faces and shudder our spinal cords with its brace of doomic delights. Well today we are stoked to announce that the long awaited release of something new from Sun of Grey is over, so please take your seats and buckle yourselves in as we will soon be departing for "Outerworld".

"Dark Souls" opens Sun of Grey's new opus and although not the heaviest of the tracks "Outerworld" has to offer it is nonetheless pretty weighty, its slow juddering groove pushed by booming bass and pummeling percussion is fractured with swirling guitar motifs and is taken to another level by a mixture of monotonic chants and bellowed growls. "Jar of Leeches" follows with bassist/vocalist Freddy Allen and guitarist Ian Hopkins combining on a low, slow doomic intro decorated with clever percussive touches courtesy of Jim Merz that then segues into a fist pumping anthem built around another juddering groove with Allen telling us in bear like tones to "be careful what you crave for". "Lucifer Smiled" is up next and employs all sorts of clever tricks and effects to fill out its lumbering gait and add a lysergic aspect to its sonic impact. Title track "Outerworld" takes the lysergic elements of the previous track and expands on them by adding spoken narrative, clean hazy vocal melodies, droning feedback and lashings of swirling spaced out guitar while at the same time still managing to remain thunderous and heavy while following track, "Silent Screams", ups both the ante and the tempo and finds the band jamming a chugging Sabbathesque groove around an old school verse/chorus/verse dynamic. Sun of Grey bring proceedings to a fitting end with "Disease", an epic sounding opus that is sedately paced but hugely powerful, its low, slow rhythmic dynamic coupled with its hazy monastic vocal melodies and eastern tinted guitar textures ramp up the songs intensity and impact tenfold and in doing so closes out what is a hugely impressive album on massive high.

We were served just a taste of what Sun of Grey could deliver with their debut EP, a sort of starter for the main course, with "Outerworld" the band dish up that main course with all the trimmings, and here we are not talking nouveau cuisine but something a whole lot meatier, heartier and wholly more satisfying!
Check it out ...