I was unfamiliar with this group, but The Grey Men hail from Sydney, Australia, and the label describes them as so: “Inspired by early Earth, Sunn 0))) and Fennesz, The Grey Men combine slowly played distorted guitars and feedback with modular synthesizers, tape loops and obscure samples to achieve sounds both harsh and transcendent.” Their bandcamp bio reads “Volume as an instrument and strip nearly everything else away,” which sounds promising, so let’s dive in.

If you like really slow doom style distorted guitars, this album has it in spades. But this is really, really slow stuff. I mean glacially slow. “Canon 3 [Remove],” “Witness,” “Canon 5 [Asphalt],” and “Canon 6 [Vengeance]” all follow a similar recipe. Long sustained chords, with some feedback and eternities of sustain as a garnish.

There are some that go outside of this strategy, and for me the standout track here is “Coeur - feat. MxRF,” with ethereal vocals that are an interesting contrast to the crushing guitar. It is this juxtaposition of the gentle voice and heavy guitars that give this track its power. The guitars seem to be more of a composition in this track, which makes it a much better, much stronger track. Truly lovely. On the other end of the spectrum, we have “Void,” featuring guitar stabs with shrieking underneath, like standing outside of a mental institution with a guitar. Not really my cup of tea, but if you like the screams of the damned, this is where you will find it.

Guitar noise can be interesting (Fear Falls Burning, for example), but much of it began to sound too similar, with the exception of “Coeur,” which I found to be exquisite. That said, if you like your guitar noise extra sludgy, this would be up your alley. This album weighs in at around 66 minutes and is limited to 42 copies.