LOST IN GREY are from Hyvinkää, Finland and were formed in 2013. They are a symphonic Metal band and call themselves "theatrical Metal". After releasing two albums in 2017 and in 2019, "Under The Surface" is their third full-length album and it was recorded at Finnish Grey Realm Studio, produced by Harri Koskela, mixed by Juhis Kauppinen at ShedStudios Finland and mastered by Daniel Hagström. The choral conductor was Johanna Lesonen. The album was released via German label Reaper Entertainment which has a number of Death Metal, Folk Metal, and Metalcore bands among their current roster. It has a length of more than 56 minutes.

Although "Under The Surface" comes with nine songs, the final three songs form their very own chapter. The album starts with "I", an orchestral, piano and string dominated intro that seamlessly transitions into "Disobedience" which has an imposing and bombastic start. After all the smoke has gone, "Disobedience" is still a good piece of symphonic Metal with the typical catchy riffing, the epic melodies, the bulky sound, and the operatic vocals including choral contributions. "Waves" starts a bit more straightforward with clean melodic guitars. The bombastic elements comes into business pretty soon alongside the choral arrangements. "Waves" includes a lot of tempo and rhythm changes which makes it interesting to listen to. However, somehow the sound reminded me on certain Finnish symphonic Metal inspirations (I try to avoid spelling out the name). "Waves" was released as video and the YouTube link is given below.

"Shine" continues with the changes in tempo and it has some pretty pacey parts. The song has a relative simple texture, a catchy chorus, and is more direct compared to the other songs on the album. The symphonic parts are kept relatively simple and the highlight of the song are the diverse vocal contributions of Anne Lill and Emily Leone. "Shine" finishes with a piano part and transitions into "Varjo", a traditional Finnish song. Highlight here is the lead guitar solo towards the end of the track. "Souffrir" is one of the best songs on "Under The Surface" and not only because of its impressive length of almost 10 minutes. It has a lot of diversity, switching backs and forths between operatic and Metal components. The term "theatrical Metal" is perhaps the best descriptor of "Souffrir".

The triptych of "Stardust" starts with "The Race", another theatrical composition similar to that of "Souffrir". It has definitely heavier parts in it including some rare symphonic Death Metal elements, but is not as playful compared to "Souffrir". "Sand Castles" and "The Abyss" continue with the story line and sound established in "The Race". "Stardust" as a whole is more compact and bombastic than the six songs before and LOST IN GREY smartly use all the sound elements they possibly could use: epic chorales, spoken word parts, strings, Metal guitars including some comprehensive lead guitar solos, and the full ensemble of the three vocalists. The epic nature of "Stardust" makes it almost to an EP within an album and it is surely the highlight of the album.

LOST IN GREY deliver an album that is a mix of traditional symphonic Metal and operatic Metal. The band's own terminus "theatrical Metal" and what it means becomes apparent during the second half of the album. "Under The Surface" is a very diverse album in both, across the songs and within the songs; and this is the strength of the album. While the first part of the album with the more traditional symphonic Metal approach might be nothing new, the second part with the more operatic approach is surely something special. The album is very well produced. Fans of epic and bombastic Metal compositions will enjoy the album and will be desperate to see it being played live on stage.