Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Old Gray - An Autobiography LP


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Purchase / Broken World Media

Oh, hell!!

     I honestly thought it would be impossible for Old Gray to top themselves after 'Everything I Let Go...' But, what did they do? They went and wrote one of the most passionate, poignant and heart-on-sleeve records I have heard in a very long time.

This is the sound of modern Screamo.

     Every song on this, their debut full-length, sounds so fully realized, I have a tough time believing a band so relatively young could have written it. There is so much sadness and world-weary thoughtfulness running rampant throughout these 8 compositions, it could have been written by a band 20 years their senior. There are ebbs, peaks and valleys here that take me from a huddled mass of shaking and tears on my floor to a fist-pumping rage, banging my anger out against the wall... Sometimes within a single song. And, Holy Shit!! The vocal trade-offs on the song 'Emily's First Communion' are so intense, it makes me want to piss my pants in pure Ecstasy!!! There is also a plethora of meandering Do Make Say Think-style passages flowing throughout. Which add a beautiful serenity that only makes the chaos that much more potent and palatable.
     I am sure you know who Old Gray are by now. If you don't, and you need some sort of comparison, I guess I can say this... If you get off on raw, naked emotion, coupled with manic bouts of frustration and flailing, crashing, careening misery and hope and you enjoy bands like Prawn and Godspeed You! Black Emperor and I Hate Myself and A Silver Mount Zion and Saetia and Daitro and basically, any of the revered Screamo and Post-Rock legends, well, you should probably make some room in your record collection for Old Gray. They belong on the shelf with the rest of your heroes.  
     I am pretty sure I found my first favorite record of 2013!!!



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