MISTY GREY - Grey Mist (Album Review)

This is throwback music best described 

in terms of an evolutionary throwback animal.

Wait a minute! Don't hang up that phone. The voice you hear on the other end is bizarre and confusing. It's hard to incorporate because it's so unconventional, but that doesn't mean it ought to be rejected outright. I'm telling you this for your own good, because that helium-infused voice you hear belongs to a witch and a witch scorned becomes a feast of shit for your life. If you turn your back now to the Misty Grey it will come back to haunt you.

I understand why you want to run in the opposite direction, believe me. I've been there. We've all been to a haunted place like this, a crossroads between worlds. I had the same initial reaction, but trust me it'll go better for you if you don't resist.

Encountering Misty Grey for the first time is to first encounter the opposite sex. It's a frustrating challenge but the sooner you fight through the initial bouts of loathing, the sooner you'll realize that there are tantalizing mysteries behind the surface. To encounter Misty Grey is to encounter "the other", and we know enough now not to reject something out of hand because it is different from the norm. When you fight through the dread, you will understand the pleasures inherent in such "difference". To reject Misty Grey is to fear the unknown and to fear the unknown is to lie to oneself, because underneath it all, originality is the currency of art and art is truth.

The vocals will challenge you as they challenged me. I was able to see past the illusion and I saw the witch behind it, that is my great fortune. Now I've joined the Misty Grey witch cult.

Go with your gut, go with that initial reactions that was ready to go to war with the band when you first heard the heavy riffs. You haven't heard riffs this raw since Pentagram. Imagine or remember what the reaction was when people first heard Saint Vitus or Trouble or Cirith Ungoll or Kyuss. These are bands you and I might take for granted today, but they all feature vocalists not even their Grandmas could love. Remember that over time, people came to think even pugs were cute. Pugs!

Initially pugs were palace guard dogs in China. Roughly the size of a Saint Bernard, twice as mean as a Pit Bull, and uglier than hell. 'Grey Mist' is really no different. This is throwback music best described in terms of an evolutionary throwback animal. The vocals will make you feel uncomfortable and uncertain, but there's no mistaking the music. The overall effect is akin to the uncanny valley experienced when we see near-human automata. It's almost right, but there's just something a little off about it. I guarantee you after the second listen you won't even remember what you thought was so weird about it in the first place. But that might just be the witch hypnotizing you. Either way you won't care, you'll be happy. It's okay, you can go ahead and trust me on this. Now ... join us!

Rating: ««««« / 5

Misty Grey facebook

'Grey Mist' is currently available to download on the player below. Shadow Kingdom Records will soon release a cassette version of the album, followed by a CD version.

Shadow Kingdom Records webstore

THE DESSERTS - The Strangest Man Vol.1

Here's one I found on The Evil Engineer's bandcamp feed. Nothing is known at this point about the band. The general nature of their name makes it search prohibitive but what is known is that this EP contains some good low key rock n roll. Sweet melodies melted down and carmelized into saccharin stoner rock. The Strangest Man Vol. 1 features 6 short songs, none longer than about three and a half minutes, for a grand total of 18. The big surprise here is the last track "Blue" which has an early Pink Floyd meets 'Purple'-era Stone Temple Pilots feel to it. It's not the kind of thing you hear on every stoner rock EP. 'The Strangest Man Vol. 1' is up on bandcamp for dirt cheap, so you might as well check on it if you're into low-key stoner jams.

MY EXPANSIVE AWARENESS - Self-Titled

My Expansive Awareness are a classic neo-psych band in the Brian Jonestown Massacre mold (the good years), giving us good riffs, driving rhythms, groovy moods and just a hint of darkness. Music for dusk. Not quite day and not quite night, the in-between time when life is at its most exciting and all things are possible. Organs are used judiciously, not gratuitously and never obnoxiously. This is a very good album, not entirely unlike After Glow in smoothness and vibe or a more "together" C.A. Quintet. It's available for NAME-YOUR-PRICE but what swayed me in the end is the band photo, who could I not be charmed by this group shot:

BLACK SMOKE DRAGON - Earth Have Jaiah

Found this, once again, on the indispensable MrStoneBeliever channel on youtube. Black Smoke Dragon apparently have been around for awhile, but this is the first I've come across them. Heavy instrumental stoner jams loaded with film clips and an intro by Bill Hicks. Obviously, these cats have good taste! The songs aren't crazy short, but when you compare the track length to the bands they're in the mold of, they are down right mini. Imagine, if you will, Belzebong jamming as if they have a plane to catch, Bongripper quartered into more easily digestible pieces. Black Smoke Dragon makes other musical references as well, paraphrasing surfer riffs and fuzzing them out in one instance, more southern stuff and an healthy acknowledgment of horror film scores. This is good shit, I can tell already it'll be on constant rotation for months to come. It's also available as a PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT download.

CABALGATA CÓSMICA - Obscenus EP

Cover artwork by David Vivó.

Got some more space rock and heavy psych for you, this one by a Spanish band, Cabalgata Cósmica. Even if you don't have Spanish, the band name says it all (it means Cosmic Ride). The cover art is another good clue to what you'll find here, kaleidoscopic visions in sound. The band tends to start things off slowly and ethereally, then take off with punkish fury. The EP is 4 songs and 26 minutes long, but the ground that is covered here makes it feel like a full-length album. The sound here is not entirely unlike Spectral Haze or selected moments from Oulu Space Jam Collective. There are moments here that bring to mind 'Revolver' of 'Vincebus Eruptum'. I'm not sure how much the more "popular kids" of the blog world are talking about this one but I consider it to be recommended listening. High energy Space Rock, music that travels.

HELA / LODO - Split LP

Hela I know, they're the reason I grabbed this thing. I got their 'Broken Cross' debut and the song "The Wicked King" climbed to #11 on the doom chart. They had a good sound, not entirely unlike a Demon Lung, only rougher around the edges tonally, with just the oddest hint of extreme metal riding beneath it all. Hela slap a pair of expansive 10 minute songs on the table here that manage to go from place to place without drifting too far from center. It's an impressive performance.

Lodo I don't. They're an instrumental band. This is the first I've encountered them. Some nice sonic explorations, not entirely unlike SardoniS. Looking forward to hearing more from them. A good split, easily worth a €3 investment.

KABBALAH - Primitive Stone E.P.

This was a nice, unexpected discovery. Some nice heavy occult rock with female / male dual lead vocals. Maybe it's unfair to label the band occult rock, Kabbalah don't label themselves as such, but it's unavoidable considering their name. It could also fall under the heavy retro rock umbrella and fit in nicely alongside the likes of the brilliant Mountain Witch and not get wet, Ow! (slight Parliament reference for ya)

Tangent time: Remember that brief moment in time when rock music was largely dominated by folk pop (AM Gold) and the Superfuzz Bigmuff was the domain of soul music?

The great thing about Kabbalah's retro sensibilities is that they're not stuck on drawing from any one era. Whether intentional or not I can hear strains of early metal acts like Angel Witch and even some of the more adventurous heavy psych records of the late 60's, such a Skip Bifferty or Mike Stuart Span for example. Either way, this is good stuff that improves with each listen. Four brief songs, all under 4 minutes and it's PAY-WHAT-YOU-FEEL, so it's a bargain no matter which way you slice it. I am going to play the crap out of this one ...

HORRIBLE MONDAYS - The Blind Dead Series

[Image Source]

[Image source]

So, Zoltan's 'Tombs of the Blind Dead' EP got me thinking about the Spanish Blind Dead film series. I have all four of them on DVD and I've considered it one of my many 'guilty' pleasures. I think "guilty pleasures" is a good phrase, I know some people don't like it, but there's no better way to describe the cognitive dissonance of liking something that you know intellectually is genuinely bad. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it, the Blind Dead series, on the 'high art' wall chart, notches at about the ankle level. Some of the films are better than others. I like the first and third films in the series 'Tombs of the Blind Dead' (see video below) and 'The Ghost Galleon'. I'm sure if you asked any four Blind Dead fans what was their favorite and least favorite of the four, they'd each give you a different combo, but all would be equally enthusiastic about the underlying concept of the series: A cloaked legion of mummified zombies seeks revenge on the descendants of those who murdered them. Oh yeah, and the sadistic undead just happen to be Knights Templar.

As I said, I like the Blind Dead series, but they're the kind of movies I'll put on mute and watch as I listen to a band like Moss. It's not the kind of thing that warrants repeat viewings, not with the sound on anyway. The problems with the series are numerous but I'll try my best to narrow them down to the major few. 1). Poor Acting. I hate to point the finger here, but the reactions and line delivery leave a lot of to be desired and undermines the carefully built-up horrific atmosphere. 2). Limited Visual Vocabulary from the Director. This situation improved as the series went on, but those first two films (again see below) are all medium or full shots, no matter what the situation. It keeps the audience at a distance, reducing the viewer to spectator, rather than participant. 3). Sloppy and / or Awkward Editing. The series is plagued by sloppy editing. Once again, the first film is atrocious with this but there's an obvious jump cut in the middle of an early scene in Ghost Galleon that just feels amateurish and sets an awkward tone (but increases its 'guilt' appeal!) 4). Special Effects that Aren't So Special. Guns that don't actually fire. Miniatures that fail to capture the minutiae of their larger studies. Fog that just sits there. The list of examples is long and tedious. One of the things that makes the Blind Dead creatures so cool and creepy is their stiff, shambling gait. Watching them engage in sword fights is far less inspiring than having them gouge eyeballs with their bony fingers and tear limbs slowly asunder with unnatural strength.

This franchise is due for a re-make.

[Image source]

It's been to my infinite shame and gut-twisting regret to watch classic horror film after classic horror film be re-made, "updated ... for today's audience!" and done in piss poor fashion. I tend to fall on the hate side of the re-make fence more often than not, I think it just may be how I'm built. I remember in Grade 8 we had to do a "what's your dream vacation" project where you get to create a totally fictional vacation / travel agency and itinerary, etc. Me and my buddy Andy came up with "The Booze Cruise" and it was funny for its time, but one kid in that class, who didn't have any ideas of his own, saw what we were doing and decided he was going to do "The Alcohol Cruise". The Hollywood Horror re-makes remind me of this forehead-slapping moment. I fell for it with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre re-make and the shame was on them. Then I fell for it again with the Dawn of the Dead re-make and the shame was on me. The 21st century horror re-makes that I've seen invariably miss the point and are completely devoid of soul. To me, this policy of re-making established classics is socially retarded. The worst example isn't even from horror, but it illustrates the point and that is the American version of The Office. Forget the fact that NBC thinks so little of its home audience that they feel the need to re-make an English language comedy for an American audience, the British Office's greatest asset was understatement, something that is completely lacking from the American version, given Steve Carell's over-the-top performance. This is what I mean by missing the point and devoid of soul. Why is there an audience for this stuff? Why re-make a film that already works on so many levels levels? So the visuals can be corrupted with unconvincing CGI? Why not re-make a film with a strong concept and cool characters with visual appeal that just didn't work for technical reasons?

If you're going to re-make an existing property, why not re-make the Blind Dead series?

I got that same thrill when I was doing an image search for this post as when I first discovered the series. Seeing the Blind Dead in all their dusty, bony glory I'm reminded that the ENTIRE appeal for this series rests in their appearance (that and the boobs) and the atmosphere surrounding them. The way they move on screen and interact is sometimes lame, the staging and composition are disappointing at times, but the threat that, at any moment some real scares might break out looms over every frame of this series because the Templars are cheesy and unembellished enough to actually be creepy. Any producer / director / writer teams out there willing to take on this project would have a wide field to play in because the details of the stories are not sacrosanct. If nothing else, you've got a built in quadrilogy, and studios love endless sequels.

If put into the hands of the right creative team, who takes the good elements of the series (the emergence from the tombs; the thick layers of atmosphere; the unforgettable image of the corpses riding on horseback; the inhuman look and stiffness of the Templars), it could be a kind of redemption for Hollywood's re-make mania. But it almost certainly wouldn't fall into the right hands. The project would go to another TV commercial / huge budget music video director whose entire oeuvre involves flash and no substance. Still, it would be something many frustrated moviegoers have been clamoring for: something different. And anyway, screw Hollywood, let's put on our imagination hats for a minute and place Stuart Gordon in the director's chair, backed by the same Spanish producers who helped him to make Dagon. Who's with me?

"I am!"

WATCH TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD: