Album Review: Reality Grey – Beneath This Crown (Self Released)
Italian melodic death Reality Grey will be releasing their new album “Beneath This Crown” on May 7th 2021 via Blood Blast Distribution powered by Nuclear Blast.
Beneath This Crown is the band’s third full length to follow Define Redemption LP ( 2014 (Bakerteam/Scarlet Records), Day Zero EP (2008) (Razar Ice Records), Darkest Days Are Yet To Come LP (2006) (Razar Ice Records).
A melodic death metal epic, Beneath This Crown is a resolve tester being nearly and hour long and holding 13 tracks. Yep, this is a long one and while there are times it feels it, overall it flies by in a whirlwind of humongous sounding chorus driven heavy metal. After an intro designed to get the blood pumping (Legion), it’s off to the races with the chunky riff and drum combo of Fade in Fear. Familiar pacing and a blend of clean and filthy vocals, it’s an energetic start.
The desire to go wild in a pit somewhere while singing your heart out is just as strong on Kings of Nothing and Preachers of Hatred. Undeniably brutal, a guitar solo thrown in the former and the drumming reaching inhuman levels of speed on the latter, these tracks are awesome.
There’s a lot more to come though. Daybreakers is notable for the sharpness of the guitar soloing that crops up alongside a magnificent sounding chorus. Powerblast is an apt title as it moves with a violent gait and is heavily focused on the buzzsaw riffs over melodies. Multidimensional Hollow sees Reality Grey take on a more thrashy mind-set and pounds away with a ton of metal force. Have we mentioned just how great the drumming is on this album yet?
A bit of expansive technicality with the guitars is wrapped around pure ferociousness heaviness on The Fury. Before Dreaming re-energises the ‘melodic’ part of their sound, partially by the introduction of ethereal female vocals. A hell of a catchy effort, which isn’t something you might expect at this stage.
It’s hard not to love the beastly burst of noise that then introduces Reascent. Especially as it becomes particularly scathing in the verses. The title track says screw all of that though, here’s some stupendously hyper-active noise for your ears. Gratefully received too as it burns so damn brightly. Leading to the final pairing of Indelible Stains and The Void. The former, a super stompy head-banger with those ever present rapid fire drum patterns. While the latter is an infectious slab of filthy metal groove that has the strong epic feel that exists throughout Beneath This Crown.
Barely putting a foot wrong, the only misstep coming from the gargantuan length, but even that is more than forgivable. Thanks to the overall quality of the record. One of the bright stars of the melodic metal future.
Reality Grey – Beneath This Crown Full Track Listing:
1. Legion
2. Fade in Fear
3. Kings of Nothing
4. Preachers of Hatred
5. Daybreakers
6. Powerblast
7. Multidimensional Hollow
8. The Fury
9. Dreaming
10. Reascent
11. Beneath This Crown
12. Indelible Stains
13. The Void
Links
Reality Grey - Beneath This Crown (Self Released)
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The Final Score - 8/10
8/10