GREY AURA – Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien….

The Dutch atmospheric post-black metal/experimental dark metal duo named Grey Aura released quite an ambitious, epic, and wonderfully detailed album last year entitled…well, look the title up above as it is insanely long, damn it! The double album contains 93 minutes of moody music encompassing drama, theatricality, melancholy, beauty, darkness, and the epic. The lyrics revolve around the final expedition to the arctic that the Dutch navigator William Barentsz undertook back in the late 1500s where he set out to locate the northeastern passage to Asia. Interesting stuff for sure, and I must applaud Grey Aura for basing this album on such an interesting concept and historically related topic. The songs themselves are dynamic and cover a lot of different ground, which is to say that you will find morose piano parts, harsh and grim riffs, sweeping melodies of grandeur, different types of vocals, and so on and so forth. The album is a very demanding listen and one has to pay attention to the many details, layers, and nuances, but it is well worth investigating if one is in the mood for experimental metal music that transcends barriers. Original and innovative music for the open-minded listeners out there.