Thursday, September 28, 2017

GRACE – Blind (Manifest, 1981)

Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **

Luleå based six-piece Grace had been around for five years when Manifest released their sole album in 1981. Although somewhat symphonic, song structures and guitar riffs display an obvious heavy metal influence. However, ”Blind” is a mainly keyboard driven album which does nothing to hide its 1981 recording date. Grace is occasionally reminiscent of 80's generation pomp rockers Tribute, but sometimes come off like a fourth-rate lightweight AOR version of Kaipa. While not a Christian album per se, it still has a kind of Jesus metal vibe to it. It's low on original characteristics, and bass player Bernt Ek's bland vocals certainly doesn't help saving ”Blind” from being an effort best neglected.

Ek and drummer Janne Lundberg went on to form the exceedingly dreadful Wildliw which released a couple of 45's in the years to come before changing their name to Bedlam. Organ player Mikael Junell ended up in Drift, while keyboardist Henrik Thall joined Grave whose self-released 7” ”Screaming From The Grave” is now highly sought after by metal collectors.

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