Grey Metropolis

I'm not entirely sure why Regimental Records decided to release this weird album that no one in the world cares about- it's not really their modus operandi, since it's not terrible, generic, forced-sounding black metal. Actually, exactly what this is supposed to be is sort of up in the air for me- it doesn't neatly fall into any genre in particular, though I suppose 'gothic dark ambient' is the closest. Let's boil down the elements: lots of vaguely gothic/alt rock clean guitar melodies, alternating whispering and screeching black metal vocals, and the occasional bit of sampling or electronic noise. There's no percussion to be found anywhere; this is really a collection of acoustic alt rock songs with weird vocals and occasional synths. Yeah, it might be gussied up by a black metal logo and monochromatic cover art, but it's still just alt rock when you get down to it.

So with that in consideration, is this interesting gothic ambient stuff? Eh, it has its moments. Sanctus Daemoneon generally flips between a darker, more uncertain sound more in line with black metal and a more straightforward, melancholic gothic feel, and they're usually better at the latter. There's a lot of small elements on this album apart from the clean guitar and bass and vocals (the occasional sizzling electric guitar, keys, a sample here and there), but they really seem like filler, considering how heavily this release relies on the main guitar melodies to carry it. The darker sounding stuff doesn't really work; the band is trying to create a black metal sense of grimness with all the basic aesthetic elements of black metal removed, and while I admire the attempt, it just doesn't work. In fact, the black metal vocals that are so common on this release just tend to come off as ridiculous, especially considering how overloud they are in the production. When the band is just doing sort of sad alt rock songs, though, they perform fairly well. The music is still too minimal and empty for my taste- there's simply not much in way of variation in sound and not a whole lot going on in the individual tracks- most of the guitarwork is pretty solid and makes me imagine Fields of the Nephilim or what I imagine that band to sound like because I don't listen to them.

Ultimately though I wonder what the point of this album is. It's a really minor-feeling piece- it's very insubstantial when it comes to the weight of the music itself and the songs don't really tend to resolve in a satisfying manner. I'm also desperately trying to figure out what sort of crowd this stuff is targeted at. It's too minimal for goths and too lame for black metallers and too black metal for people who want to listen to acoustic ambient, so it seems like this release is straddling a lot of lines and displeasing all of them. I guess if any of the above makes you curious you could check this out, but it's ultimately a diversion. Listen to Bosse for something kind of similar to this but with actual direction.