EP REVIEW: Leeches – Greyborn

In the depths of the cold, porcelain encrusted city of Limoges in southwest-central France, in the small area between the light and the dark, GREYBORN emerge from this ambiguous and strange place with the decline and collapse of civilisation at its back. The band’s debut EP Leeches is a fuzz-drenched, anthemic stoner rock soundtrack to mass disenchantment and the decay of a hedonistic civilisation. The sombre and harrowing EP charts the chaos and ethical issues we are all experiencing in a world that is changing so quickly that we cannot possibly hope to keep up.

Contained within the EP’s five songs is a gothic splendour and sensibility that is equally haunting and portentous as it tackles some of the world’s issues through eerie and ambiguous narratives designed to make you ponder your place in this ever changing world. Taking their influences from the likes of RED FANG and TRIGGERFINGER, GREYBORN blend fully weighted, fuzz-soaked stoner riffs with melancholic psychedelic parts that bring about all emotions strange and uneasy. The songs have an anthemic nature to them, reverberating off of the walls of the decayed structures of civilisations past. The band know how to stir the fear inside you, and it is as if one is being eaten like sweet treats by the white eyed femme that adorns the EP’s cover.

When it comes to the riffs, GREYBORN are not here to mess around; title track Leeches and After Dark pack the biggest punches as they groove their way into your skull. Bits & Pieces harks back to that octave driven desert sound as its riffs beat down on you like a red hot desert sun. Jharia takes on a more ominous and enigmatic tone, utilising an entrancing psychedelic lead melody over the top of primal drums. The melancholic vocals sing of the sorrow and pain that comes with disenchantment. Corrosive Faith is dark and brooding; its stripped back riffs and atmospheric passages feel baleful and hopeless, provoking a deeply intense emotional response.

GREYBORN have certainly announced themselves on the scene as purveyors of groove laden, fuzz saturated, melancholic, psychedelic gloom. Capturing their theme and broadcasting their forbidding message perfectly through big riffs and distortion, Leeches is certainly an EP that stays in your memory. Moving elusively through the dark corners of your mind, it places you in a grey area as the world dissolves into chaos.

Rating: 8/10

Leeches is set for release on March 18th via F2M Planet.

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