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Review by Brian McGowan

Looking back, 2000 was the pivotal year for Finnish rock band, Carmen Gray. Vocalist Nicklas Nyman joined and guitarist brothers, Lappe and Tommi Tikka took on songwriting duties. That fortuitous sequence of events culminated, eventually, in the 2006 debut release on Sony BMG, ‘Portrait Of Carmen Gray’.

The six years between had seen them paying their dues. Treading the boards, picking up gigs where they could, honing their own material, refining their sound, distilled from a rich cocktail of influences, ranging from The Beatles to Skid Row.

That debut and the follow up ‘Welcome To Grayland’ (2008) had a strong melodic rock vibe. Lusher, darker perhaps, post modern but also very personal.

The new album, ‘Gates Of Loneliness’ has been released on the band’s own label.

The band have sought out new musical territories to explore, with elements of G’n’R’s rock raunch (‘Roses’) and Bowie’s elegant Glam Rock (‘Gates Of Loneliness’) included in their reconfigured notion of sonic progress.

That said, you could equally argue that this “new” sound is impossible to pigeonhole, that the stripped back, modern pop melancholy of tracks like ‘Its Only Love’ and ‘Love Story Town’ are simply Finnish, as if that explained everything.

Elsewhere, on ‘Waiting For The Sun’ and ‘Two Wannabes’ the band inject elements of kitsch into the songs’ gothic rock wash, further emphasised by Nyman’s affecting croon.

‘Heroes And Losers’ and ‘Real Punks’ climb up head and shoulders above most other tracks. The prosaic lyrics are an amusing touch, and the previous tracks’ uncluttered production is abandoned in favour of Brian Wilson/Mott–like layers and nuances.

To conclude that it’s an interesting third album is perhaps to damn it with faint praise. But it won’t be to everyone’s taste and it takes time to insinuate its way past your natural defences. It’s certainly an album on which the band decided to pursue their musical ideals. That decision lost them the deal with Sony BMG, so at minimum we should wish them well.

http://www.carmengray.net