I haven’t always thought of Grey Skies Fallen as a ‘fit’ with what’s covered around here generally in the past, as they kind of skirt the line where doom and metal intersect and the latter takes off in its sharper-pointed direction, where doom, I guess, skulks into a corner and feels bad about itself? That sounds about right. Regardless, kudos to the emotionally-steamrolled New York four-piece on signing with Profound Lore Records for the release of their sixth album, Molded by Broken Hands, which is up now for preorder ahead of a March 8 release and introduced to listeners by the video for “Knowing That You’re There,” which is below.

The album boasts production by Colin Marston, who should at this point probably be given some kind of grant for the work he does, and a mix by the returning Dan Swanö, who also set the balances for the band’s 2020 album, Cold Dead Hands, and, you know, a goodly percentage of the scope Swedish death metal more broadly.

The PR wire offered the following:

GREY SKIES FALLEN: New York Doom Metal Act Signs With Profound Lore Records For March Release Of Molded By Broken Hands LP; “Knowing That You’re There” Video/Single And Preorders Issued

Profound Lore Records announces the label’s first release of 2024, welcoming long-running New York City-based doomed dark metal veterans GREY SKIES FALLEN. The band’s first release for the label, Molded By Broken Hands, will be released March 8th, and today, a video for the lead single “Knowing That You’re There” has been issued alongside preorders and more.

GREY SKIES FALLEN’s sixth full-length album, Molded By Broken Hands sees the contingent offering their most triumphant work yet. This album carries that feeling of the underappreciated and underrated dark metal scene that was culminating in the US during the late 1990s, an era where the band grew from, while helping to signal a new resurgence of doomy dark metal artistry currently building. Through soaring, emotionally searing melodies, glorious epic harmonics, and with an overall conquering aura, Molded By Broken Hands will finally deliver the recognition GREY SKIES FALLEN is worthy of.

Molded By Broken Hands was recorded and engineered at Menegroth, The Thousand Caves (Krallice, Gorguts, Artificial Brain) by Colin Marston who also performed keyboards on the songs “No Place For Sorrow” and “I Can Hear Your Voice.” The album was mixed and mastered by legendary Swedish producer Dan Swanö (Opeth, Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath) and completed with artwork and design by Travis Smith (Opeth, Death, Katatonia). The release date of Molded By Broken Hands also coincides with the 25th anniversary of GREY SKIES FALLEN’s debut album, The Fate Of Angels.

The lead single from Molded By Broken Hands, “Knowing That You’re There,” arrives through a video created and directed by friend and former bandmate Craig Rossi. Founding guitarist/vocalist Rick Habeeb states, “Sometimes in life, those that we care about the most are fighting a silent internal battle. This song is about helping guide someone through those dark times. Imagery in the video conveys these emotions and ties them together nicely with the lyrics.”

GREY SKIES FALLEN’s “Knowing That You’re There” video is now playing, and the song is now streaming on all digital platforms.

Molded By Broken Hands will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats on March 8th. Find preorders, merch, and more at THIS LOCATION: https://linktr.ee/greyskiesfallendoom

Watch for the band to post announcements for special live performances and more supporting the album to post over the months ahead.

Molded By Broken Hands Track Listing:
1. A Twisted Place In Time
2. Molded By Broken Hands
3. No Place For Sorrow
4. I Can Hear Your Voice
5. Cracks In Time
6. Save Us
7. Knowing That You’re There

GREY SKIES FALLEN:
Rick Habeeb – Guitar, Vocals
Joe D’angelo – Guitar
Tom Anderer – Bass
Sal Gregory – Drums

https://greyskiesfallen.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/greyskiesfallen
https://www.instagram.com/greyskiesfallen
https://linktr.ee/greyskiesfallendoom

https://profoundlorerecords.com
https://www.profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/profoundlorerecords
https://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords

Grey Skies Fallen, “Knowing That You’re There” official video

New York trio Grey Skies Fallen release their new album, Cold Dead Lands, on Jan. 24. Pick your apocalypse-in-progress and you just might find it in the pages of the story they’re telling across their fifth LP’s six-song/53-minute span, which begins with “Visions From the Last Sunset” and ends with “After the Summer Comes the Fall,” and all throughout paints its point of view clearly in the band’s well-established modus bringing together progressive death and depressive doom melody. The expansive vision the three-piece of founding guitarist/vocalist Rick Habeeb, bassist Tom Anderer and drummer Sal Gregory makes a perfect backdrop on which the theme unfolds, whether it’s the biting extremity of “Procession to the Tombs” and the penultimate “Ways of the World” or the broad reach of longer pieces like the aforementioned opener and closer as well as “Picking up the Pieces.” In these more fleshed-out, 10-minute-plus songs, Cold Dead Lands presents its scope as the first Grey Skies Fallen release in six years and the work of a band who are not just mature in their approach — having come together in 1996 — but who are unwilling to do anything other than continue to push forward and expand their range. “Visions From the Last Sunset,” “Picking up the Pieces” and “After the Summer Comes the Fall” make a kind of mini-album unto themselves, with “Cold Dead Lands,” “Procession to the Tombs” and “Ways of the World” — neither of which lacks breadth for their relatively shorter runtime — expanding the grim palette and theme around which the record is largely based.

The outlier in terms of perspective would seem to be “Picking up the Pieces,” if only because it presents some basic notion of there being any hope on any level whatsoever, but amid its early gallop and later stateliness of lead guitar and harmonized vocals the prevailing spirit is still markedly doomed. This too is the case with “Visions From the Last Sunset,” which basks in its progressive aspects enough that the standalone guitar line that kicks in shortly before two minutes in reminds of Devin Townsend, and amid all the inevitable Opeth and Paradise Lost comparisons, the prog in prog-death shouldn’t be understated just because it plays out at a nodding tempo. Habeeb, Anderer and Gregory unfold the opener with a sense of purpose and thoughtful arrangement, not overly dramatic, but with clear intent toward making a statement about the world around them. In this way, Cold Dead Lands is very much built on what the leadoff track lays out. That’s the case tonally and melodically as well, but the title-track and “Procession to the Tombs,” which follow in immediate succession, effectively tip the balance of elements to one side or the other of the deathlier side of their sound. This too is a clear sign of intent as the band executes these changes with grace that might be considered deceptive given the harshness of some of what plays out — those who’d argue there’s no beauty in the grotesque are simply mistaken — and one finds in listening through that as they careen here and there, pauses like that preceding the final march in the title-track and more sudden turns like that from melodic to growling vocals early in “Picking up the Pieces” are united by a sense of creative will to serve the needs of the song and album as a whole at that moment.

In that way, Cold Dead Lands argues to be heard in its front-to-back entirety — so here’s a single track (ha!) — and with as much attention and willing immersion as one is ready to give. It is immediate in its deathly urgency and resonant in its melodicism, not overly emotional in the My Dying Bride sense, but neither unaffected by the decay it convincingly describes and portrays. It’s not an easy thing to position yourself at some distance to comment on the world around you falling apart. Grey Skies Fallen do it well in concept and execution, and if these are the endtimes, at least the fossil record will show we saw it coming.

You can and should stream “Visions From the Last Sunset” on the player below. Some quick band comment and PR wire info follow.

Please enjoy:

Grey Skies Fallen, “Visions From the Last Sunset” official track premiere

Rick Habeeb on “Visions from the Last Sunset”:

We wanted to open the album on an epic note, setting the stage for what’s to come. It’s about the end times and how at that moment people finally realize that humanity is the cause of our own demise. Most of the album shares this theme. We don’t consider it a concept album, but it definitely follows a central theme. There just seems to be a lot of people in denial about the state of the world.

New York-based melodic death/doom metal veterans, Grey Skies Fallen are proud to present “Visions from the Last Sunset.” The track is the second single taken from the group’s forthcoming album Cold Dead Lands. Video was created by former Grey Skies Fallen member, Craig Rossi. Grey Skies Fallen will release the album independently on their own imprint, Xanthos Music on January 24th, 2020. It is the fifth album in the band’s 23-year career.

Cold Dead Lands was recorded and engineered by Keith Moore at Audio Playground and produced by Grey Skies Fallen. Mixed and mastered by renowned musician/producer, Dan Swanö (Witherscape, ex-Edge of Sanity, ex-Bloodbath). Travis Smith (Death, Opeth, Nevermore, Katatonia) created the cover art. Dan Gargiulo (Revocation, Artificial Brain) and Will Smith (Buckshot Facelift, Artificial Brain, Afterbirth) appear as guests.

Cold Dead Lands Tracklist
1. Visions from the Last Sunset
2. Cold Dead Lands
3. Procession to the Tombs
4. Picking Up the Pieces
5. Ways of the World
6. After the Summer Comes the Fall

Grey Skies Fallen is:
Rick Habeeb – Guitar/Vocals
Tom Anderer – Bass
Sal Gregory – Drums

Grey Skies Fallen on Thee Facebooks

Grey Skies Fallen on Instagram

Grey Skies Fallen on Bandcamp

Connecticut’s New England Stoner & Doom Fest 3 continues to take shape ahead of next May 15-17 in Jewett City at Altone’s Music Hall. The third lineup announcement brings locals, travelers, touring bands and a bit of sonic diversity, so pretty much whatever you could ask. High Reeper and Heavy Temple — hey, that’d be a cool tour, wouldn’t it? — join the ranks of Orodruin and Worshipper and others making the trip from various distances, along with Vermont’s Barishi, Grey Skies Fallen from NY, whose new record will be out by then, and CT’s own Afghan Haze. I’ve been privy to a few other potential additions to come to New England Stoner & Doom Fest 2020 and there are a few more doozies in the works, so sit tight, but already we can start to see the shape of the fest as we’re just more than halfway through the announcements.

Tickets are on sale Jan. 3, which seems as good a time as any.

Here’s word from the fest:

The New England Stoner and Doom Fest 3 is coming May 15-17, 2020 at Altone’s Music Hall in Jewett City, CT and is promising to bring you the best concert going experience it possibly can. You will experience many of the best bands the underground stoner/doom metal scene has to offer on 2 stages over 3 days with no overlap. You will be hit with a non stop sonic assault on the senses with the opportunity to see every band featured. Weekend passes go on sale Jan 3, 2020 at newenglandstoneranddoomfest.com.

Moving on with our 3rd roster announcement, we would like to welcome the following bands:

High Reeper

Formed in 2016, High Reeper is made up of Zach Thomas, Justin Di Pinto, Andrew Price, Pat Daly and Shane Trimble. Originally started as just a studio band, it rapidly became apparent that these songs were meant to be heard live and loud. The band made their debut in the Philly/DE stoner rock scene in early 2017 with success which was followed up by the recording of their self-titled debut in May. With a sound deeply rooted in modern stoner rock while still giving a nod to the earliest Sabbath records, High Reeper’s self titled debut is driven by pounding rhythms, thick guitars and soaring, screeching vocals. For their second record, the addition of Di Pinto on drums helped focus their sound in an even more powerful direction. The result is a new record with riffs that are even heavier than before that explore new directions, including the ballad “Apocalypse Hymn”. After a successful 2018 European tour that included Desertfest Berlin, High Reeper Will once again tour Europe in 2019 visiting ten countries as well as an appearance at Desertfest London.

Heavy Temple

Heavy Temple is a trio of doom metal deviants determined to take you on a wild stoner rock expedition. Having made waves first in their hometown of Philadelphia and then throughout the global heavy rock scene after tours with Corrosion of Conformity, Ruby the Hatchet, Mothership, and Ecstatic Vision, this is a band who are ready to break on through to the other side. Veterans of countless festivals, including Psycho Las Vegas, Muddy Roots Music Festival, Days of Darkness and Decibel Metal & Beer Fest, Heavy Temple are here to drown you with dark riffs, heavy vibes and a rip roaring good time.

Barishi

In a scene that has become largely repetitive, nostalgia driven, and prone to navel gazing, few bands stand out as breaking new ground. With their sophomore full-length ‘Blood from the Lion’s Mouth’, BARISHI demonstrate that it is still possible to challenge the established formulas of the metal genre by recombining its musical DNA. There is an undeniable progressive undertone in their modern approach to hard guitar based music, but at the same time, the Americans delve into the darker side of extreme sound that defies the happy fret-fingering all too often employed by their peers.

BARISHI were formed by guitarist Graham Brooks, bassist Jon Kelley, and drummer Dylan Blake in Southern Vermont in the spring of 2010. The US band originally performed as an instrumental trio throughout the east coast of the United States, which they relentlessly toured. Their unique style of gritty progressive metal was completed with the addition of vocalist Sascha Simms in 2012. They have shared the stage with everyone from Mastodon to The Flaming Lips. In 2016 the quartet completed a U.S. tour with Weedeater, Author & Punisher and Today is the Day. They are set to release their much anticipated label debut ‘Blood from the Lion’s Mouth’ September 16th, 2016 on the esteemed Season of Mist record label. BARISHI provide the listener with earth-shattering grooves and savage vocals born in the verdant mountains of Vermont. Prepare to be pounded on and thunderstruck with ecstatic metal from the ancient hills of New England.

Grey Skies Fallen (NY)

Grey Skies Fallen are seasoned veterans of the doom scene delivering melodic epic doom, their latest full length is out now and was mixed by the legendary Dan Swano.

Afghan Haze (CT)

CT has some great new bands that have hit the ground running recently and Afghan Haze is one of them, releasing their debut EP “Burnt Offering” and looking to release much more in 2020, they have pummeled every stage they have played with their brand of Evil Louder than Hell Psychedelic Doom.

We’d also like to announce our Prefest party on May 14th at 33 Golden in New London, CT for the 3rd straight year. New London is just minutes away from the main fest.

The first band to be announced is:

Dust Prophet (NH)

Hailing from Manchester, New Hampshire, Dust Prophet came together in 2018 as the project of longtime friends and musical collaborators Sarah Wappler (bass) and Otto Kinzel (guitar). Soon joined by fellow scene veterans Heather Lynn (vocals) and Marc Brennan (drums), the band shifted into high gear writing music. They released their apocalyptic debut single The Big Lie in October 2018, putting them on the map with critics and listeners in the underground music scene. Recorded by Kinzel at his home studio, with post-production done by Massachusetts studios Amps vs. Ohms and New Alliance East. Dust Prophet is on the fast track to notoriety… if the world doesn’t end first. Look out for Dust Prophet performing across New England this year. In 2020 Dust Prophet will be also performing at the Maryland Doom Festival, (June 18th-21st) in Frederick, MD.

http://www.Newenglandstoneranddoomfest.com
https://www.facebook.com/NewEnglandStonerAndDoomFest/
https://www.facebook.com/events/467948910731582/

Heavy Temple, Live at Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, Sept. 21, 2019

New York-based death-doomers Grey Skies Fallen have set a Jan. 24 release for their fifth long-player, Cold Dead Lands, which is about an accurate a description of NY in January as I could ever hope to devise. They’re streaming a teaser for it as well as the whole track “Procession to the Tombs,” and both would seem to speak of a consuming bleakness to come, some inescapable aspects of New York’s death metal crunch making their way into the sound of the tracks. Unsurprisingly, it’s very, very dark. Like 5PM for the next two months.

I’ve observed a phenomenon over the years that when I write about death-doom, no one ever really gives a crap. I don’t know if that’ll be the case here, but I dig the track they’ve posted, so I’m going to try to review the album if I can regardless, so take that, I guess. If you want more fuzz rock, I don’t know, wait five minutes or something. I’m sure it’ll be along soon enough.

Meantime:

Grey Skies Fallen to Release “Cold Dead Lands” January 24th, 2020

Grey Skies Fallen will self-release Cold Dead Lands on January 24, 2020. Cold Dead Lands is the 5th studio album from the New York-based melodic death metal/doom band in a 23-year career.

Cold Dead Lands was produced by Grey Skies Fallen. The album was recorded at Audio Playground, and engineered by Keith Moore. Dan Swanö (Nightingale, ex-Edge of Sanity, ex-Bloodbath) mixed and mastered the album at Unisound Recordings Studio.

Travis Smith (Opeth, Nevermore, Katatonia) created the artwork. Dan Gargiulo (Revocation, Artificial Brain) and Will Smith (Buckshot Facelift, Artificial Brain, Afterbirth) appear as guests.

Listen to the Album Teaser
Cold Dead Lands Tracklisting
1. Visions from the Last Sunset
2. Cold Dead Lands
3. Procession to the Tombs
4. Picking Up the Pieces
5. Ways of the World
6. After the Summer Comes the Fall

Pre-order a digital download or digipack CD of Cold Dead Lands via the band’s Bandcamp page. All pre-orders include an instant, high-quality download (MP3, FLAC, more) of the album track “Procession to the Tombs,” plus the complete album the moment it’s released on January 24th.

Grey Skies Fallen is:
Rick Habeeb – Guitar/Vocals
Tom Anderer – Bass
Sal Gregory – Drums

http://www.facebook.com/greyskiesfallen
https://greyskiesfallen.bandcamp.com/

Grey Skies Fallen, Cold Dead Lands album teaser

Grey Skies Fallen, Cold Dead Lands (2020)