A couple of weeks ago I reviewed a Chilean band called Mourners Lament. I told you guys that the band consisted of members from well-known other Chilean bands, like Mar De Grises, Poema Arcanus and Letal Solaris. To me all three bands were unknown, but when I saw that we from Metalrage.com had received the album Draining The Waterheart from Mar De Grises I had to review it. I liked Mourners Lament a lot, so why wouldn’t I like Mar De Grises then?

As for most doom/death bands the basic of the music lies in the guitar-bass-drum-combination, but the keyboards are also very important for Mar De Grises’ sound. Besides his keyboard-skills, the voice of Juan is also really good. Juan uses his grunting more than his clean voice and that’s a pity, because with his clean voice he sets the atmosphere just a little bit better. The band also uses soundscapes to make things interesting, but without annoying the listeners who don’t like that side of the music. The progressive elements in the music also turn out really well; the variation between heavy and calm is nicely build up and all the tracks are on a high technical level.

Mar De Grises has definitely released one of the better records in this genre so far this year and I think everybody who likes the doom/death thing should check them out, whether that is on record or on stage during their current European tour!