Cemetary - An Evil Shade of Gray

Although Sweden's Cemetary would eventually leave a legacy as one of the best goth metal bands of the '90s, their 1992 debut album, An Evil Shade Of Gray, was firmly rooted in the Scandinavian death metal tradition -- as if you couldn't tell by its "so scary it's funny" title. Even without that telltale sign, though, it doesn't take but a moment to confirm that songs like "Where the Rivers of Madness Stream" and "Nightmare Lake" were as obsessed with tales of decrepit evil (and seemingly bodies of water, oddly enough) as they were rife with dense, earthshaking riffage informed with evidently superior songwriting imagination and dynamic diversity. Read More