Another in a recent string of rather unusual releases from the always unpredictable Vendlus Records is the self-titled debut full-length from Grayceon—a curious San Francisco trio featuring members of Amber Asylum, Giant Squid, and Walken that utilizes just electric cello, guitar, drums, and male/female vocals. The mere four songs herein range in length from four minutes to 20 minutes and explore all kinds of influences—from weird jazzy passages to quirky metal riffing that often winds all over the place through some oddball "math rock" sorts of rhythmic twists. And of course there are lots of somber yet intricate clean melodies as well, while the generally sparse vocals range from soft to loosely operatic singing styles to shouting to monotone half-speaking. The recording's great as well, and perfectly accentuates the space between the instruments with a nice sense of warmth and clarity, so you can really get a feel for how the musicians are interacting with one another and pick up on some of the more technical aspects of the playing. Cool stuff.
Thankfully unrelated to the music itself, and I hate to go there, believe me, but the only thing about the record that I absolutely fucking hate is that under the CD tray is a completely random photo of the band members dressed up wearing wigs and holding beers—looking like a bunch of hippie fuckin' grunge loser funk metal idiots or something—referred to on their MySpace page as their "hesher alter egos". This is a completely stupid decision that totally clashes with everything else about the album (including the otherwise tactfully simple layout printed entirely in metallic silver ink). At least they went to the trouble of making the tonality of the photos match the visual aesthetic of the rest of the packaging, but... why!? I mean, what the hell does that goofy shit have to do with the serious tone of this music? Nothing! Stupid, stupid, unnecessary move. So annoying. Bands, please, don't do shit like that. Please.
Okay, end rant.
Grayceon "Sounds Like Thunder"
You know how it goes. Buy it if you like it:
Comments
Wow, I’m impressed. I loved the sense of energy throughout the song, especially in the drumming. And I’m a sucker for long, technical songs that go all over the spectrum in feeling. Good stuff.
2.20.2007 | By MaxThrash
good stuff andrew!
i was wondering do you mind posting some American Nightmare review
i really want to get to know their material. i’ve heard Give up the Ghost"material, which is still easy to get, but wanted to know more about American nightmare.
2.20.2007 | By reno
I was never that big on American Nightmare/Give Up the Ghost. They were decent, and I still have some of those records, but I don’t pull them out too often. They’re basically the same band, they just had to change their name. Much of the material on the Give Up the Ghost “Year One” CD was originally released as American Nightmare, for example.
2.20.2007 | By Andrew Aversionline
...and American Nightmare’s “Background Music” was recently (?) re-released with (as far as I can tell) absolutely nothing changed but the band name on the cover. I ‘ll admit it: American Nightmare was the first hardcore show I ever went to. I always kinda dug them, but I can certainly see how people who have been into hardcore a lot longer than I have wouldn’t see the big deal.
2.20.2007 | By Grist
Hi! ~
Thank you, Andrew, for your honest review of our album. I am only responding because you asked ‘why?,’ so here is your answer…
I actually agree with you, the goofy photo has nothing to do with the seriousness of the music, which is exactly why we did it. The three of us are extremely friendly and light hearted, some might even say ‘goofy,’ people. Although we are dead serious about playing music, we have such a fun time playing (key word: fun) and did not want the music + seriousness of the CD package to imply an overall image of being heady or overtly intellectual. That’s it.
I’m sorry we offended you, but we love it! Maybe one day when you meet us, you’ll get it. Thanks, again, for the awesome review!
xo, ~ Jackie (+Grayceon)
2.20.2007 | By Jackie Perez Gratz
Andrew, great review! could you post a photo of yourself posing for an album cover?
i bet you wear sandals with socks hehe :)
2.20.2007 | By Valzhyna
Andrew, dude, two of the members are from Walken, one of the silliest(yet still technically proficient and ripping) bands I’ve seen live. Even with Ms. Perez
Gratz being from Amber Asylum the humorous angle should be expected.
Good stuff, btw.
2.20.2007 | By Justin
I love Giant Squid, so I will check this one out!
2.21.2007 | By josé carlos santos
I just got this recently, and I had no idea any one from this band was from Walken. I set up a show for those guys years ago and it was fucking killer, except that they played to me and a friend because my town sucks like that sometimes. Anyway, this stuff rules.
2.21.2007 | By Carlzilla
Interesting - it skirts dangerously close to indie rock, but the drumming is ace, as well as the Giant Squid-isms. The guitar tones are also quite strange, but at least this isn’t the usual.
2.21.2007 | By Invisible Oranges
Thank you!
7.25.2007 | By Sarah David