Grey Misery

Production is one of the most important (yet misunderstood) aspects of extreme metal. Good production cannot mask a bad record, but a bad production can ruin an otherwise good record. To some extent, the objective quality of the production does not matter. Loads of my favourite death metal releases sound rough as hell. It is far more important for a band to get a production that suits their style. There are some classic death metal records with idiosyncratic 'bad' productions that somehow suit the music ("Mental Funeral", "Gothic", "The Red in the Sky is Ours"). Then there are the countless obscure death metal bands who managed to get an amazing sound, seemingly by default (e.g., Traumatic, Divine Eve, Exmortis). Back in the heyday of death metal, getting the right production seemed to be more about timing, luck and location than anything else.

Disgrace's debut album ("Grey Misery") is the perfect example of a death metal band getting the wrong production. The bass is decent enough, the drums are OK (apart from a weedy kick drum), the mix on the vocals is passable. The fatal problem is the wispy, dry guitar tone. I can see what they were trying to achieve here, but they ended up with a poor, treble-heavy replica of the Studio Sunlight 'buzzsaw' tone. This has a catastrophic effect on the overall sound, giving everything an empty, hollow and generic feel. Unfortunately, we know how good Disgrace were when they had the right production. Their previous demo ("Inside the Labyrinth of Depression") had a booming, damp, penetrating sound which fitted the band's loose, serpentine style. Giving Disgrace a second-rate genre production effectively kills them off. All four songs from that demo have been re-recorded on "Grey Misery" (though I think "Transcendental Dimension" only appeared on the CD version). The presence of these four songs only highlights the album's flaws.

What is most frustrating about "Grey Misery" is how good it could have been. Six of the songs are new (i.e., not on the demo), and most of them had the potential to be great. After all, this is the same line-up, the same super-talented band overflowing with unique ideas. The drummer still sounds amazing (and has actually improved his blasting). There are even more of those bluesy, Sabbath-influenced grooves which they explored on the demo (listen to the first riff of "Obscurity in the Azure" for example). In terms of highlights, I think "And Below Lies Infinity" and especially "Immortality's Open Lakes" would have sounded incredible with a different production. We will never know for sure.

Perhaps the guitar tone isn't solely responsible for the album's mediocrity. The playing lacks the organic feel of the demo. Everything sounds tighter and better rehearsed, but this also means it sounds more deliberate and constricted. The energy of the performance is lacking, and I wonder whether they found recording this album to be a chore. Too often this record sounds like a band going through the motions, rather than having fun making progressive death metal. Disgrace were not a band that was content to stagnate, they always seemed keen to challenge themselves and evolve. There is little (if any) evolution on "Grey Misery" in comparison to their previous material. In retrospect, we know that the band would distance themselves from death metal on subsequent releases. Perhaps they were already bored of death metal by the time they recorded this.

I still think "Grey Misery" is a worthwhile listen. Those who like old school Scandinavian death metal should hear it. It is unfortunate that Disgrace never made the classic death metal album they could have made. Perhaps this is the reason they remain obscure while many other equally underground Finnish death metal bands have been rediscovered. If anyone is interested in exploring this band (which I recommend doing), then track down their incredible "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" demo first. In comparison, "Grey Misery" is little more than a curiosity.

Before settling on rock 'n' roll, Disgrace from Finland were a promising death metal band. Their "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" demo was a unique offering of signature, down-tuned Finnish death and is one of my personal favorites from the land of one thousand lakes. It took me a while to track down "Grey Misery", their first full-length on the obscure French label Modern Primitive Records. I was very eager to find a copy and was expecting something just as good as the demo, if not better. When I finally got ahold of it, I realized that I had maybe set my hopes just a little too high.

Musically, it's not bad at all. Glancing over the track list, I immediately noticed that all 4 songs from their "Labyrinth" demo were on there. They were re-recorded for this album, changed around slightly, but still played with the intensity that was on that demo tape. There's also a bunch of new songs. Many of them feature strange, up-beat, rock'n'roll-type riffing. It feels a little out of place sometimes, and it was a sign of what's to come in the future. Luckily, the new songs are still filled with plenty of dark, mid-tempo death metal riffs and pulverizing blast parts. There's even some incredibly heavy, doom-like sections thrown in. The vocals are mainly deep, guttural growls (ala Demilich) along with the occasional higher-pitched screams.

The fact is, it's not the music itself that makes this album fall way short of a masterpiece - it's the way the music was recorded. The production on this CD is terrible. The drums are way too high in the mix, you can barely make out any of the guitars, the vocals are drawn out and the bass is non-existent. All you can hear during the fast parts of the songs is cymbals and a faint buzz from the guitar. It helps when you listen to this album on headphones, but even then you'll still be torturing yourself unless you can turn the "treble" knob all the way down. I mentioned the slow, doomy sections earlier - that's where everything sounds best. The drums slow down, while the guitars and vocals peak their way onto the surface. Sadly, these sections are few and far between.

Normally, bad production doesn't bother me that much as long as the music is good. But as with everything, there are exceptions. "Grey Misery" is mine. No matter how many times I listen to this album, I just can't get over the way it sounds. It almost seems like it was overproduced. I'll take the basic, 8-track production of their demo tapes over this any day. For the record, I have not heard the re-released version of this album and am unaware if it was remastered or not.

If you're looking to further explore the Finnish death metal scene of old, give this Disgrace CD a listen. Maybe you're not as sensitive to production as I am and you'll be able to appreciate this album for what it is. But I would strongly suggest finding a copy of their "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" demo first.

Highlite tracks: "The Chasm", "Unity's Interlude Dyes Blind Tomorrow", "Waves of Hypocrisy Seas", "Transcendental Dimension"