Who doesn’t like a good, well laid out concept album? And who doesn’t love a double album? ESPECIALLY when it’s split into two?? For your listening pleasure, of course. Boston’s OFFWORLD has done just that and today we’re taking a listen to the already released Grey Dawn, part one of a two part series (This year will bring about the conclusion of the story).
Space Rawk is where it’s at, kiddies! And luckily for us earthlings, OFFWORLD has landed with their brand of interplanetary music in an attempt to save us all! The beginning of “Lunar Schooner” comes at listeners like a mix of Duran Duran and Pink Floyd as Laura Capello’s voice cuts through the swath of guitars and noises like a tour guide calling attention to the next exhibit (Or in the context of this otherworldly story, think of her like Ford Prefect from Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) before the song morphs into an appropriate rawker to end the track backed by a blissful synthetic drone.
“Drawing Down” is a proper rawker with Jeremy Flower’s organ tones providing a fitting accompaniment to Cappello’s cries until “They’ll Kill Us All” ambles in and builds and builds to culminate with the most unexpected and most interesting song on Grey Dawn driven by Craig Adams’ sustained guitar accents.
“Save The Humans?” ups the tempo when this rollicking rawker gets underway fueled by Adams’ riffs once again as David Silver’s forceful drum attacks emphasize Cappello’s yells of “Die! Die! Die!” perfectly and Darren Lourie’s bass creates an eerie foundation shaker underneath it all.
Lourie continues to bring the bass on another banger in the form of “Mind Over Mind” until “The End is Here” saunters in and immediately sounds like some classic prog rawker from another era (Think Rush or Yes)…or in the case of OFFWORLD maybe another galaxy? Wherever the origins of this ditty took place, one thing’s for sure: singing about impending doom never sounded so lovely!
Grey Dawn is out now and can be obtained by clicking here (Where you can also read more about the concept) or here. OFFWORLD will be busy in 2018 with Part 2 hitting later in the year, an appearance on “Dinner And A Movie” (Which we co-host) over on WEMF Radio on April 6th followed by a show at Midway Cafe on April 7th. And more! For the “more”, click on their official FB page here.