I again have come from the Eastern roots of North Carolina, and I have yet another local band that has a CD out. Yet this time there are a few differences. First, this band is signed to a major record label, SRE. In addition, this band is from Atlantic Beach not Greenville like Frail and Your Name in Vain. Lastly, this is not an acoustic rock band and they are far from an Alternative rock and punk band. This is a group of four heavy rockers in a Christian Rock band. Four years ago, two of the members were priest’s sons, and they were getting tired of religion. They knew two other people that were also burned out by religion and they decided to start a band to spice up religion. These four have become to be known as Decyfer Down. When the got signed to SRE recordings, they released a Self Titled EP and posted a promo video on their Myspace. On June 6, they released the album that brought on this review, “End of Grey.”
Even before Xfest ’05, a local rock festival from a local rock station, the one hour local music show on Sundays was playing
I’ll Breathe For You because they had limited options at the time. It is on of their songs that builds up in the introduction. It is also a great example of how catchy their Chorus’s can be (check out
Burn Back the Sun,
No Longer, and
Walking Dead). It has been around a while, and it shows that they knew when they started how to write their lyrics. There’s only one exception to this,
Never Lost. I do not know what there were thinking we they wrote this but the only thing I can think of is, “Let’s write a more direct song about god.” The song is not total crap though; they have a great distorted guitar in the song, which would make this song great if the lyrics weren’t included.
While on the subject of guitars, this band has some wicked solos and knows what they are doing when they play the guitars. In some solos it blends in with the drums and you are like “Man they know what they are doing.” But in others it has a great screeching noise and it’s more complex and you want to shit your pants. Have you ever heard good things about a band from a scene kid, and thought to give them a listen just to find out the vocals never change? Well first I’m not a scene kid, and second the vocals from the two vocalists are not always the same on this CD. The vocal styles change on most of the songs, and you will never tire of the vocals. Especially on the slower songs, the vocals just seem to flow smoothly on the slower songs(ex.
Here to You). The first single from this album,
Life Again, is by far the best song they could pick for a single. You get the feel of what the band is, and how they write their lyrics.
For a band that got their fan base from their live shows, this is a kick ass CD. The only downsides are “Never Lost” (above) and the way “Vanity” can annoy you sometimes. There has been some people on websites saying how this band sounds just like every other band in this genre, but do not listen to them. This band is originally, and this could be the album of the year. This band is on a warpath to stardom, and it already shows with “Life Again” third on the Christian Rock charts. If you like Christian rock, rock, or just Christian you will love this CD.
Pros:
They made the wait for this album well worth it.
The guitar playing is great
The vocals are done great on every song
Cons:
Never Lost
“Vanity” can annoy you after a while
This CD is not in all stores yet
