Greyhaven
Demo
(c)1997 Greyhaven
Review by Neil St.Laurent
Thanks to the band for the Cassette
At first listen you can only sit in awe realizing that this is only a
demo band! If given their CD without any prior knowledge of the
band, you may end up saying stuff like, "this is better than Dream
Theatre". Given that, it is hard to hide that this is a progressive
metal band, but those that don't like progressive, don't stop reading
yet. Often a major deterrent to this genre are what many say are the
boring and uninspired vocals, fortunately for Greyhaven they never
managed to find a vocalist, and the music is thus just instrumental.
Being instrumentals means that Greyhaven had to put a lot of extra
effort into making sure the music doesn't become repetitive or
boring. As you will quickly discover upon listening is that they've
achieved that goal with a lot of room to spare (i.e. the music is
extremely rich). The band even managed to overcome another obstacle,
that being they are two guitarists and a drummer. Matthews extended
his keyboard skills a little to fill in on both keyboards and bass
(most of the bass is done with the keyboard). Hearing the music you
wouldn't have any problem with the extended use of the keyboard
(well, unless of course you hate keyboards).
Although absent of lyrics, the music by itself manages to tell an
intricate story, one of either a cosmic or fantasitical adventure.
If you close your eyes and let your mind imagine a little you can
begin to see the scenery and characters taking part in this play.
From the torrents of combat to the evening dance in a woodland
meadow, the atmosphere and mood of the music are excellent.
Greyhaven's demo is comparable to Memento Mori's "La Danse Macabre"
in it's musical elegance, and similar to Transcendence with respect
to an epic being portrayed. Although not necessarily heavy or hard
music at all times, this opus from Greyhaven is a masterpiece.
Grayhaven is:
Nate Howard - Guitars
Nick Cipriano - Drums
Ethan J. Matthews - Keyboards, Guitars
Contact:
Greyhaven
c/o Ethan Matthews
82750 Bradford Rd. So.
Creswell, OR 97426
Web: http://members.aol.com/greyhavn/index.html
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