Toronto-natives Greys’ third album, Outer Heaven, starts with the decidedly slow-paced “Cruelty.” This would be a good song to slow dance to if it weren’t for lyrics like, “We want to know your name. We want to see your face before we hurt you,” being slowly moaned out at us from the haze of the track. Things get much more fast-paced and much more angst-ridden with “No Star,” although the catchiness of a simple, clean guitar line over much noisier distortion and drums makes for an eerily catchy bout of free-floating (or rather, shooting) energy.
“Blown Out” is probably the most accessible track on the record, although it still overflows with distortion that sounds as if it belongs to the drumkit. Mostly, what we get is energy being built up until the track cuts short and we get some slight commentary from a member of the band. Songs like “In For A Penny” and “Erosion” play more into the mainstream punk-rock fields, giving the record a more rounded characteristic overall.
All in all, Outer Heaven is the cake you get when you mix two cups of angst and one cup of “I don’t want to deal with this right now” together.
