The name of the album is quite fitting. "Something Borrowed…Something New" relates to the fact that half of the songs are covers and the other half new songs by the band themselves. GREYSTONE CANYON has released two albums before this one, and the 2024 one called "Iron & Oak" got a perfect rating from my colleague "Metal Mark" Garcia. He rightfully wrote that these Aussie have a knack to sound like they belong in the seventies. And that they also really know how to play and make songs sound good.

To follow up on what my colleague mentioned, I have to tell you upfront that the rating for "Something Borrowed…Something New" isn't going to be near perfect at all. Not because they have forgotten how to play music, but as five of the nine songs are covers, that would be a bit misleading if I would do that. That is not to say that the covers that GREYSTONE CANYON have decided to use are in any way or form bad. On the contrary, the band has been able to insert their own sound into them, with varying results. For me the ones that work best are the ZZ TOP song "Just Got Paid" and the beautiful THIN LIZZY anthem "Suicide".  The one that is okay is the NEIL YOUNG tune "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into The Black)",  which has become a ballad of sorts. Somehow that works. The ones that are not bad, but for me lag behind are those of UFO, "Doctor, Doctor" and LED ZEPPELIN, "Immigrant Song", and in these cases it is mainly due to the combination of vocals being too plain and the guitar playing being way behind the original versions.

As for the new songs on "Something Borrowed…Something New", the same applies. The GREYSTONE CANYON songs that really work are "the very forceful and energetic rocker "Drives Us" and the very atmospheric instrumental ballad "Friend Of The Fox". They are simply beautiful. This is where GREYSTONE CANYON showcases how good music can and should sound. And then you have the last two songs on the album. "AAF" is just some guitar noises being made. It's not bad, and the guitars sound alright, but it has no soul, something all the other songs do have. The same goes for the closing song "Stealing Our Freedom", which again isn't half bad, but somehow it misses the atmosphere and musicianship that the first two mentioned cunning own songs do possess. It comes over as a bit lifeless. After listening to it all it is very clear that GREYSTONE CANYON is a very good band and that they are able to write good music, but I feel that on "Something Borrowed…Something New" they've not used their full potential.