Grayceon - 'All We Destroy'

Songwriting doesn’t match beautiful classical instrumentation and vocals.

Grayceon pushes right past our conceptions of metal with clean singing and a cello. True, other bands have touched on these sounds, but Grayceon goes even a step beyond gender benders like Neurosis and Isis.  They are similar to their Bay Area cohorts Ludicra in their desire to expand our understanding of metal and imbue the music with a singer-songwriter’s soul.

That approach is the main strength and stumbling block of All We Destroy, Grayceon’s third album.  Jackie Perez Gratz, a classically trained musician, has an angelic voice, one that could work wonders in any genre. Her cello playing is also masterful; giving the music unexpected textures and sounds.  She shreds on a cello like most players wish they could shred on an electric guitar.

The issue is that the meat of the songs – the riffs, the choruses and anchoring musical ideas– don’t match the atmospheric layers. There’s plenty of beauty here – moments of the music strive for transcendence – but there’s not enough meat to make you want to stick with songs. That’s especially the case on long tracks like “We Can,” which push past the 15-minute mark.  The more compact “A Road Less Traveled” works because it has strong ideas and ethereal touches.

Grayceon is a band with abundant talent, one uninhibited by staid musical boundaries. A little more focus on finding a common thread so listeners can stick with unconventional albums like All We Destroy will make them unstoppable.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.