REALITY GREY hailing from Southern Italy were formed in 2004. They are a melodic Death Metal band, but with a lot of influences in their sound. So far, they released one demo, one EP, and "Beneath This Crown" is the band's third full-length album. "Beneath This Crown" was mixed and mastered by Simone Pietroforte at Divergent Studios. Simone Pietroforte and REALITY GREY produced the album. It is distributed via French Blood Blast Distribution whose parent label is Nuclear Blast. "Beneath This Crown" has a length of about 57 minutes.

If there is something like a constant in REALITY GREY's approach to Metal then it is their drive to vary their sound and their progression towards new styles and vibes in their music. As a result, the new album "Beneath This Crown" is probably best described as a mix of melodic Metalcore, melodic Death Metal with a portion of progressive elements. The album has a fast and aggressive start with "Fade In Fear" and "Preachers Of Hatred". "Fade In Fear" is played at fast pace with powerful guitar riffs. The breaks for the chorus has a typical melodic Metalcore texture with clean vocals. The vocals in general are mostly guttural with the occasional switch to clean vocals. "Preachers Of Hatred" has even more aggression and speed in guitar riffing and more anger in vocals. The sound is also darker compared to most songs on the album especially during the second half of the song. The screaming vocals of Tommy Montenegro remind quite often on Randy Blythe but that is the only similarity to LAMB OF GOD.

"Kings Of Nothing" and "Day Breakers" are other examples of combining different styles: while "Kings Of Nothing" has powerful guitar riffs and aggressive vocals, the structure of the song is fairly complex and leaves room for slower melodic parts with a couple of lead guitar solos and even Grunge vibes towards the end of the track. "Day Breakers" is more straightforward and another melodic Metalcore song with some Deathcore elements. Beside the heavy guitar riffs, the lead guitar sequences provide extra darkness. Chorus section and middle break are slow and melodic with the clean vocals of Anto Addabbo which are accompanied by the screams of Tommy Montenegro. REALITY GREY also experiment with adding synths and technical effects, especially during the intros, but it often does not add something extra.

"Multidimensional Hollow" is one of those exceptions where the extra effects contribute well to the song. The track has a very fast start with heavy guitar riffs and technical comprehensive lead guitar sequences including a short lead guitar solo. The mid-tempo break has a powerful start including some atmospheric layering and an extended lead guitar solo. I have to say, most lead guitar solos on the album miss a bit the cutting edge. "Multidimensional Hollow" is one of three video releases and the lyric video can be watched using the YouTube link below.

One of my favorites is "Dreaming". The song switches from a powerful head-banging rhythm with catchy guitar riffing and double-bass drum sequences to a slow and melancholic part driven by the clean voice of guest vocalist Milly Florio (END OF SKYLINE). Both vocalists have an alternate contribution to the song and the contrast of the angelic voice of Milly Florio and the angry screams of Tommy Montenegro are the highlight of the track.

The final third of the album contains a few heavy songs such as "Reascent" and the title song. "Beneath This Crown" is the typical mix between Death Metal driven parts with aggressive riffing, hammering drums and angry vocals; and on the other side the melodic Metalcore parts during the chorus sections. It also includes another extended lead guitar solo which lacks the dynamics a bit.

"Beneath This Crown" is a good Metal album that contains elements from many Metal subgenres, and perhaps melodic progressive Metalcore describes it best. REALITY GREY deliver an upgrade to previous albums and their eagerness to experiment with their sound is clearly to recognize on the album. This gives their music an own character and makes them distinctive from other Metal bands. The album is very well produced. "Beneath This Crown" will make all fans of REALITY GREY happy and I am sure that the music of the new album will help to win a lot of new fans.