Wednesday 19 August 2020

Album Review: GREY DAZE - Amends

Grey Daze - Amends

01. Sickness
02. Sometimes
03. What's In The Eye
04. The Syndrome
05. In Time
06. Just Like Heroin
07. B12
08. Soul Song
09. Morei Sky
10. She Shines
11. Shouting Out
 

Grey Daze is the band Chester Bennington was in before he joined Linkin Park in the late 90's. They put out a couple of records which have been out of print for a long time. They were going to reform for the first time in 20 years, but that didn't happen for obvious reasons.

The songs may have been released before, but the original recordings weren't great and they're fairly obscure. I think it's safe to say that the majority of Linkin Park fans weren't aware of Grey Daze, but now this project shares this early music via a bigger platform now with the production values that these songs deserve. 
 
The music on Amends is all newly recorded, but they have used Chester's original vocals, some of which dates back to when he was only 17 years old, and have remastered them. They've basically made this record backwards, as vocals are usually recorded after the drums, bass and guitars have been tracked.
 
The big question is "Is Amends any good"?  

The album sounds very much like the era these songs were written in. It is the epitome of that mid-to-late nineties alternative Rock/Metal sound, where Grunge has been king for a while and we're moving towards Nu Metal. 
 
Opener Sickness sounds a bit like a 'more angsty' Bush with some subtle Nine Inch Nails-esque electronic overtones. Sometimes is a great song. It reminds me a lot of Stone Temple Pilots. Ironically, Chester joined Stone Temple Pilots briefly many years later. 

What's In The Eye is another excellent example of 'Post-Grunge' and certainly a highlight for me. Soul Song is more of a power-ballad with some massive vocals, Electronica and piano, and sounds like a Linkin Park song. If they'd released it, it would have been a massive hit, I'm sure.
 
Amends is packed with great songs. Personally, I loved the first Linkin Park album, but they were quite inconsistent and got progressively worse over time, despite having the odd awesome single here and there. I like Amends more than every Linkin Park album, aside from Hybrid Theory. I have no doubt that that's a controversial statement, but it's an honest one.

Just when we thought the last time we'd hear anything from Chester was on that amazing track he sang on Mark Morton's solo album (read my review here), we're treated to this. Amends is a great album and a wonderful farewell from an iconic artist.



 


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