The Waste Land

What the hell was that? Those were my first thought when I listened to ambitious opener and title track ''The Waste Land'' that opens with obnoxiously angry female vocals performing lyrics that are incredibly hard to understand. It doesn't help that this style is intertwined with overlapping female and male choirs. The middle section with whispered narrative passages is another element in the weird opening potpourri. That chaotic opener left a very negative impression, reminding of a poor man's version of UneXpect, Le Grand Guignol or Akphaezya or rather of a band in the key of Elis or Lunatica attempting to sound progressive at all costs. An opener should always set the tone for a record and I already feared the worst from here on.

To my very positive surprise however, the rest of the album is carefully structured symphonic metal with influences taken from classical music and folk melodies that take their time to unfold. The mythic folk metal epic ''Expectations'' calms the listener down after the messy opener. ''Wolves and Men'' features a multitude of creative song writing ideas in more than eight minutes but these elements are combined quirkily in a way that recalls anime soundtracks at times which means that the song offers an intriguingly twisted narrative. Closing epic ''Drifting in the Universe'' is nearly thirteen minutes long and convinces with slow piano passages, sacral chants and fluid structures that are almost an antithesis of the opening title track.

If the record hasn't opened with such a bad song, Lost in Grey's The Waste Land could already be considered a real early highlight of the year. As it is now, the band shows a lot of promise in its long and structured tracks that ooze with atmosphere, never get boring and convince with ambitious musicianship and outstanding vocal performances. Those who like ambitious symphonic metal bands like Epica, Nightwish and even Therion should give this album a spin. If the band improved its song writing by slowing things down in the future, it could become the next big thing in the symphonic metal scene. The potential is already there but the execution could still improve slightly.