One of my favorite bands the past couple of years has been the Michigan shoegaze band
Greet Death. I've sent them in a few roulettes but so far I seem to be the only one here who's actually sold on them, which is a shame because there's lots of stuff to love about them, so long as you can stomach incredibly pessimistic and dejected lyrics (they're from the Midwest, who can blame them).
The thing I like about them the most is that they don't over-focus on texture like a lot of shoegaze bands do. They're
incredibly melodic. Almost all of their songs have extremely catchy, infectious vocal melodies. Their riffs kick ass. They've got classic rock-inspired guitar solos. They're not a band who's sole appeal comes from burying everything under walls of fuzz and distortion. That's not to say they don't have walls of distortion, oh no - their guitar and bass tones are fucking filthy and disgusting (in the best way possible). They just have the sense to combine that with actual hooks. Honestly, they don't sound like any other shoegaze band I've heard, so I'd recommend checking them out even if you're not usually into the genre (like me). I think they'd have a lot of crossover appeal for fans of indie rock and post-hardcore (looking at you, Cyril).
The band has two vocalists, and while they rarely share lead vocals on a single song, they both have about a 50/50 split in terms of appearances. Logan Gaval's voice is deeper and darker, and Sam Boyhtari's voice is higher and brighter. They're complete opposites of each other. While neither vocalist is particularly amazing in terms of technical ability, they compliment each other perfectly and always fit the instrumentation equally as well. I prefer Sam's voice myself, but there's some songs he wouldn't be able to pull off as well as Logan does. The band wouldn't be anywhere near as good if either one of them were always singing.
Finally, the band's got a ton of variety. You've got energetic, upbeat rockers like
Bow and
Valediction. Songs like
Strange Days and
Circles Of Hell alternate between softer and heavier passages, creating a satisfying contrast. The song
Strain sticks out like a sore thumb in their catalog in that it's practically a doom metal song with its glacial tempo and dirge-y riffs.
You're Gonna Hate What You've Done is one of their best and longest songs, with a quiet first half, and a bombastic, cathartic, and guitar solo-filled climax. Finally, their EP they released just last month strips out their heavy elements almost entirely, focusing on folkier, quieter, and more atmospheric instrumentation, like on the acoustic "John Mayer shit" song
I Hate Everything and the country-inspired
Your Love Is Alcohol, complete with not-quite-in-tune piano and harmonica.
They've released two albums and one EP so far, and all of them are good. But if you want their best work, definitely check out their 2019 album
New Hell, which has become my favorite album from that year.
Topic: Talk about a favorite band that hardly anyone here knows about (Read 1245 times)