{"id":20408,"date":"2012-06-09T04:54:41","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T09:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=20408"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:09:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:09:23","slug":"carmen-gray-gates-of-loneliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/carmen-gray-gates-of-loneliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Carmen Gray | Gates of Loneliness<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nikiforos Skoumas<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Finnish modern melodic rock group Carmen Gray are back with their third studio album Gates of Loneliness<\/em>. Carmen Gray have been a household name of the Finnish scene for over seven years and yet they are just making their debut in the international rock arena with Gates of Loneliness<\/em> and it is great being able to find their new album in a format other than an overpriced import.<\/p>\n

Then new album is a considerable departure-musically, from the previous two albums; the thick guitar riffs and rhythm parts are replaced by a mixture of acoustic-clean guitar chords, complemented by electric guitar leads, plus a more reserved rhythm section. One could describe the overall style of Carmen Gray as a slightly more popular version of the 69 Eyes in the sense that it was up-beat modern melodic rock but with Gothic singing which becomes even more evident during the choruses. Essentially, that also proves to be the case with Gates of Loneliness<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Obviously the mixture of clean rhythm guitars and electric leads adds a more radio-friendly quality to their sound which could be regarded as Nelson-going-Gothic particularly on such tracks as \u201cLove story Town,\u201d the ultra-infectious ballad slahs rocker \u201cDemolition Lady\u201d and the up-tempo \u201cWaiting for the Sun\u201d. <\/p>\n

From there onwards you get the contemporary pop-rockers such as \u201cTwo Wannabes,\u201d \u201cHeroes and Losers,\u201d the sing-along \u201cReal Punks\u201d which features some very effective female vocals that elevate the song and keep the latter part of the album vibrant. Lets not forget the narrative \u201cNot Surprized\u201d which closes the album, coming out as subtle and intense at the same time. <\/p>\n

One has to clarify that their \u2018more popular musical orientation\u2019 is by no means used as a synonym for over-simplification, as Gates of Lonliness<\/em> is by any standards a very well thought, well planned and well delivered work. Form the acoustic guitars and the vocal harmonies, to the melodic guitar solos to the subtle piano complements Gates of Loneliness<\/em> is clearly an album well worth its money. <\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Goth Rock<\/p>\n

Line up:
\nLappe: guitars, vocals
\nNicklas: lead vocals
\nO.J.: drums
\nJ.J.: keyboards, backing vocals
\nPete: bass, backing vocals<\/p>\n

Track list:
\n1. Gates Of Loneliness
\n2. Roses
\n3. It\u00b4s Only Love
\n4. Love Story Town
\n5. Waiting For The Sun
\n6. Demolition Lady
\n7. Two Wannabes
\n8. Heroes And Losers
\n9. Real Punks
\n10. Not Surprised<\/p>\n

Label: \tWarner Music <\/p>\n

Web: www.carmengray.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8\/10 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nikiforos Skoumas Staff Writer — Finnish modern melodic rock group Carmen Gray are back with their third studio album Gates of Loneliness. Carmen Gray have been a household name of the Finnish scene for […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}