MUSIC REVIEW: Lost in Grey - “Odyssey into the Grey”
If you’re looking for a reason to get excited about the grey spaces of spring, perhaps it’s time to explore the lore of the Grey Realms by Lost in Grey! This Finnish theatrical metal band are among the most interesting and creative people I’ve met during my time in Finland, who have appeared in my Unleashed series twice now, as well as guesting on Gathering of Geeks! With their new album, “Odyssey into the Grey” coming out via El Puerto Records on April 5th, 2024, you know I had to sink my aural teeth into this one!
This next paragraph is dedicated to my history with the band, so that you can compare your taste against mine. If you’re not interested, feel free to skip past this paragraph and head down to the review in proper!
I’ve known about Lost in Grey for about as long as they’ve been around, but I admit that my affection for them and their music has developed slowly over time. While I’ve always appreciated their music and their vision, the theatrical style took some time to grow on me. Nevertheless, I’ve started to really like them over the years, having had them as guests for my Unleashed series twice already (with hopeful plans to continue in the not-so-far future) for “The Grey Realms” and “The Waste Land.” I would say that I did genuinely enjoy “Under the Surface” but neglected to listen to it more than a couple of times, unfortunately, so I really wanted to remedy this with the new album and make sure I give it the attention it deserves!
It’s worth mentioning up-front that the first single, “The Entourage,” captured my attention right away. Acting as a bombastic meta intro that both introduces the characters, their “actors” (the band members), and the setting, the song also touches on the stories that Lost in Grey have already been telling, and how sometimes, as artists, we need to change up what we do in order to keep things interesting. Perhaps it’s time for Lillian, Patrick, and Odessa to go on a different sort of adventure? How far will the album take us down this road? There’s an immediate lure to find out what will happen next, so I was very excited to hear this as the first single… it definitely built some hype! Also, musically, that instrumental break before the final choirs is just brilliant.
“The Bottomless Pit” was another single and immediately stands out for the magical keyboard lines from Harri Koskela and the incredible backing orchestrations, with vocal lines added for flavor. Then, the vocal trades between Anne Lil Rajala and Emily Leone are really cool. This is only enhanced by the surrounding instrumentation. Honestly, we’re hitting Nightwish-level orchestral quality with this band now!
It’s worth mentioning that this album is quite long! None of the first three songs are under 7 minutes in length and no song on the album is under 5 minutes in general. “Time” is closer to 9 minutes and opens with a soft, mysterious atmosphere that is reminiscent of the sound from Within Temptation’s “The Silent Force” (which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite albums). The vocals start light and delicate before the choirs punch up the drama… this is (much like everything else so far) a very dramatic track. There was something in it that drew me to think of Wintersun’s “Time,” in that the concept and bombast are exceptional in both songs, as well as the way “time” is sung in the choruses. It might be a bit on the heavy side (emotionally and length-wise, but not musically) for the third song slot, especially as it gets heavier and darker in sound, with rougher drums creating a somewhat more horrific atmosphere towards the end as the choir sings “under pressure” over and over, but it works well in context of the overarching story and feeling that they’re exploring.
There is a mysterious, ominous, and unusually folky march to kick off “Two Wolves” and… do I detect some joiking in this song? For the non-Finns, joiking is a traditional Sami type of singing that’s akin to yodeling (check out what Jonna Järvelä of Korpiklaani does in his guest slot on Finntroll’s “Jaktens tid,” for example). This is one of the main album highlights for me because of its strange, mystical, folky atmosphere, the vocal parts, the quivering violin lines (very impressive, by the way!)… actually, scratch that! Everything in this song is great, from the keyboards and drums/percussions, vocals, soundscape, that part where it softens up and the gentle pianos slowly take over, with violins and flutes… all of it! What an absolutely magical work of art, this is an easy album highlight!
Things get a little heavier and more crushing in “A New Dawn,” which has a lot of choirs and some really excellent use of strings. There are some really lovely soft vocals from Emile Leone and Anne Lil Rajala, which is not so common, stylistically, for either of their characters. It softens out from the hefty theatrics nicely after about halfway through and we also get a taste of Harri Koskela’s gritty vocals, which, again, allow for a great juxtaposition of vocal sounds. This song has a particularly storied nature, taking quite a few twists and turns.
Interestingly, track 6 is sung in Swedish: “Vem Kan Segla Förutan Vind.” The song opens with a very intense drama—if it was a movie soundtrack, it would be a battle breaking out, and it does invoke some of Hans Zimmer’s work. As it progresses, there are waltzing violins and children in a choir sing a melody that is very similar to that of “Hoist the Colors” from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which happens to be a song that I love a lot from the aforementioned legendary composer. It even edges its way near an extreme metal intensity due to the inclusion of some mood-appropriate blast-beats from Teppo Ristola—very tasteful! After a few listens, this became another album highlight for me!
“Hailuoto” is the album’s ballad and a beautiful one to boot, also not in English. This gentle and tragic Finnish song has an equally gorgeous (and cold-looking) music video, with a lot of soft, sad emotion. Acoustic guitars and violins lead the melodies forward, while Anne Lil Rajala is center-stage on vocals with her character, Lillian, though other voices enter in the backing music to carry her voice, as if drifting on waves of melody.
The album wraps up with the title track, “Odyssey into the Grey,” which is led by light tinkling piano melodies, before everything kicks in and slaps you in your face with its majestic drama, adding a flourish just because it can and because it wants you to remember it. Harri Koskela is up first again on vocals as well, singing in a more clean/less gritty manner than usual, before Emily Leone takes over, also singing in a lower octave than usual. The song then roars forward with full orchestras and choirs, like a tidal wave after the gentle ripples of “Hailuoto.” The chorus is glorious, really feeling like the final act of a play, as they conclude their story in the lyrics. As the grand finale, this song is a full 11 minutes long, meaning that, a little over halfway through the song, it calms down completely, with only soft flutes and spoken-word vocals delivering hope, with a good moral. Then, naturally, they simply must have the final choral rush as the whole song and story reaches its glorious climax, as the residents of the Grey Realms seem to understand that they cannot stay here forever and that something must change.
Story spoilers: Now, looking at the story is a bit of a challenge because I haven’t stepped into their third release yet, but their concepts are esoteric enough that you don’t necessarily need the previous releases to get an idea of what’s going on. “The Entourage” is very much setting the stage for change, while “The Bottomless Pit” explores Lillian’s feelings, understanding how she’s being tricked over and over. Then, during “Time,” the lyrics explore, obviously, the passage of time and how we cannot stagnate in one place in life, for time does not wait for us. “Two Wolves” doesn’t have a lot, lyrically, but suggests that there are always two sides of us, two wolves, but it is on us to decide which wolf to feed. “New Dawn” hints at a potential allegiance, even friendship, between Lillian and Odessa as they are beginning to find themselves in the same place, trapped and not moving on or growing. The title of the Swedish song translates loosely to “who can sail without a wind,” which is also the general vibe of the song: who can sail without wind, who can row without oars, and are you willing to be separated from a friend without shedding tears? “Hailuoto” is the name of a place, but the song’s feeling is almost in mourning of what has happened, in a way that creates the necessary space to move on. The album’s final track, “Odyssey into the Grey,” can probably be explained with its one line: “We cannot always control our lives / but that doesn’t necessarily mean that our destinies are predetermined.” What a magnificent conclusion!
It takes a great deal of skill and knowhow to get theatrical metal to work. The genre runs on high octane, so it’s not uncommon for artists to over- or under-do it, or get results that are messy or unbalanced. Fortunately, we have Lost in Grey to show us how it’s done. When it comes to really epic, symphonic bands, I have a personal limit on how much I can handle the music being dialed up all the time. Epica’s “The Holographic Principle” is a good example of an album that feels like every song is an album in itself and thus it’s too much—there’s no dynamic pause to allow some relief or a breath of air in that release. “Odyssey into the Grey” toes the line of having that hefty bombast peaked out, but the flow is not too overwhelming because there is indeed some space to breathe here and there, with moments in “New Dawn” and “Hailuoto” offering some necessary respite. Furthermore, I love the way that they explore concepts in their concept albums, as opposed to more concrete stories, as their albums often seem to be exploring feelings and emotions in a storied manner. The album is full of delicious little moments that will take multiple listens to blossom fully, but on the whole, this release is nothing less than a brilliant work of art and I can’t wait for the album release show in Hyvinkääsali on April 6th! I hope to see you there!
Tracklist
The Entourage
The Bottomless Pit
Time
Two Wolves
A New Dawn
Vem Kan Segla Förutan Vind
Hailuoto
Odyssey into the Grey
Enjoy Bear’s writing? Consider joining her mailing list to keep up-to-date!
