Band:	In Grey
Album:	XII
Style:	Gothic doom metal
Release date:	2004

01. The End Is The Beginning
02. Once Again
03. Bittersweet
04. Black River

A Step Back for the Swedes

One of the most hard-working Sweden bands is In Grey, a bunch of demo and promo releases and only one full-length album over the past ten years, all of this for what? Almost nothing, no record label, no new full length, no nothing, zero, sip, nada, nihil. The dreams of performing in big tours and having women at their disposition is fading away. Chances are that this band is never going to achieve the rock star status, not at least in this lifetime.

I reviewed their only full-length "Sulphur Tears" a while ago, and it was quite good to be frankly, they displayed emotional music paired with excellent vocals and powerful melodies. After that they released a new demo and then this, their latest demo effort, new vocalist and a new turn on their music.

Musically In Grey relies more in the keyboards now, piano lines can be listened in many songs, (although this is only a 4 song Cd). The downer here is the new vocalist, he lacks the emotive and sensitive edge that the prior vocalist had, this, plus the fact that the songs in the demo aren't that interesting, is enough excuse to bring down the whole expectative I had for this band.

Opener song "The End Is Beginning" is the commercial song of the album, catchy and with good rhythms, "Once Again" relies in the piano lines, while "Bittersweet" is a mid-paced piece with some good riffs, closer "Black River" is as boring as it can get, except for the aggressive outburst in the last 10 seconds.

As I stated before, this is quite a setback for the band, because "Sulphur Tears" was an excellent album, but this "XII" is disappointing. Maybe they should analyze their music and try to correct some flaws, because I don't see the record contract dream coming soon if they keep walking this path.