365 Days of Metal: Floating On A Sea of Grief

Day 53

Mar de Grises - Streams Inwards

Artist Origin: Santiago, Chile
Genre: Death / Doom / Melodic
Label: Season of Mist
Running Time: 56 minutes
Release Date: August 30, 2010

Best Part: Opening three tracks.

Favorite Tracks: The Bell and the Solar Gust, Shining Human Skin, Starmaker, and Knotted Delirium

Grade: 4.0
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Streams Inward in 20 words or less:

Another atmospheric record from a melodic death/doom band that remains a relative dark horse amongst a stable of accomplished acts.

The Band:

Mar de Grises (Sea of Greys - rather than Grief) is a five member melodic death/doom band that hails from Chile, playing an intriguing blend of styles all centered around the doom metal experience, injecting elements of progressive, post metal, ambient and even electronic into their compositions. The band formed originally as a groups of students studying at university that wanted to spend some leisure time, and has grown to become a band that with the release of their first record received high praise from critics, and continued with their sleeper hit sophomore album Draining the Waterheart receiving rave reviews, and nods as best Doom album of the year.

Mar de Grises's other releases include: The Tatterdemalion Express (2004), Draining the Waterheart (2008), and First River Regards (2009)

Jay's Take on Streams Inward:

Streams Inwards is arguably one of if not the most atmospheric record released by Mar de Grises. The composition work by the band has always been a high point in their relative success, with the choice use of instruments and tones adding even more to the melody and the atmosphere of the record. The use of electronic effects in particular is apparent throughout the record, and paired with the key use of specific elements such as soft piano melodies and dissonance also pull you further into the inward streams of Streams Inwards. The vocals shift timely between harsh growls and soft cleans, immersing you fully into the experience created by the instrumentation of the group. Streams Inwards is a solid album, that fits well into many different moods, but lacks a small bit of luster in comparison to their past works, especially their heavily lauded sophomore album Draining the Waterheart.

Sample of the Day:



- J