Dolor Generalis [Weekly Mixtape 115]

Grey Skies Fallen • The Bleak Picture
Bismarck • Shores Of Null • Angmodnes
Ornamentos del Miedo • Primordial • Hamferð

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317: Grey Skies Fallen

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 317 features an interview with Rick Habeeb of Grey Skies Fallen.

[cover photo by Terrell Grannum]

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237: Reeking Aura

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 237 features an interview with Rick Habeeb, William “Big Will” Smith, and Terrell Grannum of Reeking Aura.

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catching up with Grey Skies Fallen [2019]

It's been a while since Grey Skies Fallen have been on this blog (though the members' other projects have popped up on this site regularly). Since it was recently announced that the band would be releasing their fifth album Cold Dead Lands in a few months, I caught up with my buddy Rick Habeeb to find out what the band has been up to these past 5 years.

an interview with Brave The Waters

DoC friend Rick Habeeb keeps a lot of irons in the fire. Not only is he busy with deathgrinders Buckshot Facelift and the long-running doom metal band Grey Skies Fallen, he and BSF/GSF bassist Tom Anderer formed the instrumental/post-rock outfit Brave The Waters. With their second album out this month, I hit Rick up to fill me in on his latest project.

An Interview with Buckshot Facelift

I've known the members of NY's Buckshot Facelift for years through their other bands Grey Skies Fallen and Artificial Brain. If their idiosyncratic style wasn't a selling point, then their highly entertaining live performances would be. Since they have a new album Ulcer Island coming out in a few weeks, I figured I'd hit up vocalist Will Smith (his second time being interviewed for this blog) and guitarist Rick Habeeb (his third time - so you know he's getting a free coffee) to fill in all the blanks on Buckshot's past, present and future.

Mixtape 9: Grey Skies Fallen

Mixtape 9: Grey Skies Fallen by Dreams Of Consciousness on Mixcloud

Here is the 9th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with New York's own Grey Skies Fallen. The band was playing a show at Saint Vitus Bar while I was in town, so I used the opportunity to interview guitarist/vocalist Rick Habeeb before their set. We talked about the band's newest album, The Many Sides of Truth, their history, their influences, and their plans for the future.

Grey Skies Fallen - The Many Sides of Truth

New York's long running Grey Skies Fallen return with their self-released, almost crowd-funded new album, The Many Sides of Truth - a title that could easily refer to their varied and eclectic style. It's to the band's credit that their music has so many different facets that it defies easy categorization. Trying to sum the album up with a facile genre tag like "blackened doom" or "gothic metal" would be reductive and misleading. 'The Peaceville Three' are a noticeable influence - but so are Pink Floyd. In general, GSF sound more European than American; there's a definite kinship with bands like In The Woods... and The 3rd And the Mortal in the way that they go from oppressive to vulnerable to operatic within the same track.

The album revolves around four long songs separated by instrumentals. Opener "Ritual of the Exiter" kicks the album off in a moody and shuffling fashion before careening suddenly into a blasting rager. "The Flame" goes in the opposite direction, beating the listener up with epic black metal that transforms into a dirge built around Craig Rossi's forlorn piano melody. The keyboards are front and centre on "Of the Ancients", which is sure to raise eyebrows as it strides boldly and purposefully into melodramatic rock opera territory. "End of My Rope" finishes the album in headbanging style and leaves the listener on a sanguine note. At the heart of the band's sound is the interplay between the keyboards and the guitars and throughout it all, vocalist Rick Habeeb is in fine form, switching from a full bodied tenor to tortured screams as the music demands.

Grey Skies Fallen are in an unenviable position; on one hand, their music should appeal to anyone with a broad view of metal's history and who wants to see it branch out of its self-imposed restrictions. By releasing the album on their own, they can bypass any record label looking to shoehorn them into a more marketable genre. Unfortunately, the current musical climate seems to reward talented plagiarists over bold visionaries. Here's hoping the tide is turning the other way and The Many Sides of Truth finds its audience.

The Many Sides of Truth will be released 29 April 2014 and is now available for pre-order through Bandcamp.

In addition to the CD and digital versions, the album will also be released on vinyl ("Our first foray into vinyl!" says the band), including coloured/splattered vinyl and a limited edition "Glow-in-the-Dark" version. The vinyl comes packaged with a green variant cover by Travis Smith, and is also available for pre-order through Bandcamp.

Grey Skies Fallen on Facebook

Grey Skies Fallen Website

Grey Skies Fallen Interview

Grey Skies Fallen are unsung heroes of the New York metal scene, having been around in some form since 1997. I finally got a chance to see them in May, when they shared a bill with Gwynbleidd. Since overlooked, criminally under-rated bands are this blog's raison d'être, I sent vocalist/guitarist Rick Habeeb some questions which he was kind enough to answer.

Gwynbleidd @ Public Assembly 5.10.2013

Back in 2007 I saw Gwynbleidd for the first time, sharing a bill with a friend's band. With their mix of early Opeth and Katatonia, I was pretty much a fan instantly. I can remember a time when it seemed I was the only one at their shows who didn't speak Polish; by the time they opened for Entombed a few years later their rep in the local scene was growing, and I wasn't the only one headbanging at the front of the stage. The last time I saw them, before I left NY in 2011, turned out to be their last show before line-up troubles put them on an indefinite hiatus. By some weird fluke it turned out they were playing their first show with their new line-up the same time I was back in NY for a buddy's wedding; the timing was too good. No two ways about it, the Metal Gods planned for this to happen.