Band:	Grey Skies Fallen
Album:	The Many Sides Of Truth
Style:	Melodic death metal, Doom metal
Release date:	April 29, 2014
A review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Ritual Of The Exiter
02. Unroot Transparent Being
03. The Flame
04. Of The Ancients
05. Isolation Point
06. End Of My Rope
07. Winter Hand

Grey Skies Fallen are one of those delightful bands that, while probably more death metal than anything else, try their hardest to avoid falling under any one category for too long. Drawing influence from bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Opeth, and Porcupine Tree, this American quintet have crafted an exciting and powerful work of inspired metal.

After several minutes of bleak and relatively uneventful melancholia, "Ritual Of The Exiter" erupts into brisk, up-tempo death metal with vocals alternating between powerful, operatic cleans a la Devin Townsend and wicked Opeth-ian growls. As it trudges on through passionate riffs and powerful musicianship, it sets the scene for The Many Sides Of Truth's most respectable qualities.

In its strongest moments, The Many Sides Of Truth is brooding but driving death metal, with keyboards and strings in the background that add waves of dimension and intensity. Its emotional side balances out the brutality, preventing it from becoming just another so-mildly-interesting-it's-uninteresting death metal album. Elements from both heavier and softer progressive music, combined with the implacable sense that something miserable is about to happen, make The Many Sides Of Truth an agglomeration of death and doom abetted by melodic, progressive, and symphonic qualities.

In its weakest moments, the album plods a bit too much. From time to time, the depressive drudgery loses its direction and becomes repetitive for its own sake. The acoustic interludes between almost every song disrupt the flow of otherwise trance-inducing metal. I'm not suggesting that Grey Skies Fallen should ditch their forays into non-metal pieces - after all, what band aiming at a "progressive" label could limit themselves to one style - but it is clear that their strength lies in their heavier songs. I can appreciate this kind of acoustic/electric interplay, but only if the songs accentuate rather than diminish each other's effects.

Overall, despite the occasional flaws, The Many Sides Of Truth is a very strong album. The heavy tracks, which comprise most of its running time, create an enrapturing atmosphere and can still crush like any good death metal should.