Perry
Grayson - Guitar/Vocals
Greg Lindstrom - Bass/Keyboards
Darin McCloskey - Drums
Demo 2003 Reviews
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - With an odd yet effective accumulation of metallers from across the country, this promising rock trio keeps it stripped down and fueled by pure rock influence. Drumming is carried out by Pale Divine's Darin McCloskey, while ex-Cirith Ungol member Greg Lindstrom tears up the bass and fills in some guitar and keys. Rounding out the lineup is ex-Artisan/ex-Destiny's End axe-monger and Maniacs staffer Perry Grayson, getting down and dirty like a rock bar champ trying to win his crew free beers for a year. With the overall flow and vibe of Thin Lizzy on the edge of breaking into Pentagram and Iron Maiden riffs, the rock is mixed out intelligently with [Perry's] vocals a la H.R. from Bad Brains on their mellower stints. Quirky and immediately catchy, but definitely a far shot from anything metal. Just four earthy guitar jams for the rock 'n' roller in all of us. -Dave Brenner, METAL MANIACS |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - What do you get when you combine Artisan/ex-Destiny's End guitarist Perry Grayson, ex-Cirith Ungol bassist Greg Lindstrom & Darin McCloskey from Pale Divine? If your guess would be technically-flawless power-doom, you couldn't be more...WRONG! No, far BETTER than that could ever be, these 4 songs by FALCON take me back to the early '70s and a nasty, fat tube-driven blaze of heavy rock that makes me think...Budgie, Bang & Trapeze! Amazingly, the first monster here, "Shelob's Lair" (great lyrics) puts me deeply in mind of early (hard rock era) Pentagram, like the best stuff off "First Daze...!" "The Crying Of Lot 246" has a strutting May Blitz swagger & the massive "On The Slab" (dedicated to Philip Lynott) calls to mind the baddest-ass riffs Tony Bourge ever laid down. Power trio glory reigns supreme in the sledgehammer of Lindstrom & McCloskey, and Grayson not only cranks up a wicked-ass '71 axe tone, but testifies on the bluesy vox as well. 4 songs here sets a mighty table, and a whole album of this would be a pure feast for these ears! -Ray Dorsey, CHAOS REALM |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - Falcon is the result of what happens if you lock Greg Lindstrom (bass – ex-Cirith Ungol),Darin McCloskey (drums – Pale Divine) and Perry Grayson (guitars & vocals – ex-Destiny’s End/Artisan) in the same room. Contrary to what you might expect ,it definitely isn’t power or doom metal! What you do get is an immense dose of (early) '70s inspired heavy rock. The opening song "Shelob’s Lair" does start with a Cirith Ungol-ish riff and is the closest the band gets to sounding even remotely metal. The other 3 songs are just killer reminders of how cool some of those '70s bands really were. But "On the Slab" (which is dedicated to the late Phil Lynott), with its not surprisingly Lizzy-ish guitar work, does deserve to be mentioned as well. Like I already pointed out in the article, this is far from being doom metal, but given the fact this is highly comparable to the sort of stuff bands like Internal Void, Trouble, Vitus, etc were inspired by, I do feel this lot deserves to be reviewed here. And I urge anyone who fancies a healthy dose of 70’s heavy rock to get in touch with the band as soon as possible, you won’t regret it! -Jean-Marie Matheus, REFLECTIONS OF DOOM (Belgium) |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - Any 70's maniacs reading this review? Any fans feeling nostalgia about the times when Black Sabbath made their debut, Thin Lizzy where still alive and kickin and when songs where not going 100 miles per hour? Well, this band is exactly what you are looking for. Perry Grayson (ex-Destiny's End, Artisan), Greg Lindstrom (Ex Cirith Ungol) and Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine) teamed up, forming Falcon, setting as their task to play 70's metal the way they like it, the way they used to play it (i.e. Greg Lindstrom), the way it all began. What the demo actually contains is some basic tracks of the 4 songs featured here, recorded live the weekend of 28-29/3/03 in LA. The demo begins with "Shelob's Lair" as song written by Greg Lindstrom and sounds as if it was taken out of Cirith Ungol's magnificent debut "Frost & Fire". Great riff, nice solos, interesting lyrics and inspired melody changes and cuts. The rest of the songs were all composed by Perry Grayson. The following song is "Downer," a semi doomy heavy rock song, with Perry's guitar spraying solo's all over the place while his bluesy vocals contribute in traveling you all the way back to the '70s era. "The Crying Of Lot 246" comes third begins as a nice melodic, slow song but it eventually gets tougher and the solos once again are filling the room. The last song is "On The Slab," dedicated to Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott (R.I.P.) and it sounds to me as an early NWOBHM song!!! Nice bass and drumming, hard 'n' heavy feeling and the guitars are once again painting through out the song. Overall, Falcon seem to be an interesting case. I'm looking forward in listening to their rest work and since their songs sound so nice when they where recorded live in a jam of the band my expectations are growing even higher. If you are into 70's metal/hard 'n' heavy/ heavy rock you should really check this band. The rest, do not expect to listen to distorted guitars, brutal vocals, extreme drumming or anything like that. If you are into that kind of music, then you better keep away from this band. -George "ManillaRd" Karatzias, FORGOTTEN SCROLL (Greece) |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - Ex-DESTINY'S END and current ARTISAN guitar player Perry Grayson has been planning a '70s style Heavy Rock project for several years, and he finally found the time to start working on it recently. The project called FALCON and the sound is a throwback to what was heavy in 1971. So, as for the Falcon influences, you can go back to bands like: Mountain, Thin Lizzy, Budgie, BOC, Pentagram and stuff like that. Joining Perry in this band is former Cirith Ungol multi-instrumentalist GREG LINDSTROM. He handles the bass thunder and also play some keyboard and guitar lines as well. Behind the drumkit, you will find DARIN McCLOSKEY from Pennsylvania. He's also the skin basher for doom metal merchants Pale Divine. The four tracks on the demo are: "Shelob's Lair," "Downer," "The Crying Of Lot 246," "On The Slab," (dedicated to the memory Of Philip Paris Lynott). It's old school influenced Heavy Rock and these guys doing it with a lot of passion and overloaded energy. Great work anyway!! -Stefan Silgehelm, METAL TO INFINITY (Belgium) |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 -Watch out, watch out! Mad dog Perry Grayson's about! So sayeth I to you all as i review yet another hefty slab of underground heavy rock! So, you take PERRY GRAYSON (ARTISAN, DESTINY'S END), add DARIN McCLOSKEY (PALE DIVINE) and throw in legend GREG LINDSTROM (Of CIRITH UNGOL). The end result is well worth the wait for me, having been lucky to hear several snippets during the course of the demo been mixed my appetite was whet! Taking their inspiration from some of the greats of the seventies such as THIN LIZZY, MOUNTAIN, PENTAGRAM, it would be safe to say that FALCON strike a chord with the heavy rock beast within us all, combining the very same (and oh how I hate the word) groove and heaviness that made TROUBLE's fourth and fifth albums so excellent. But, opener "SHELOB'S LAIR" is the one track that is a little different to the others, it been an unreleased CIRITH UNGOL number. The band do it justice, with some excellent TIM BAKER style nuances in PERRY's voice. The following three are all FALCON penned numbers, and as I stated before, the inspirations are apparent, authentic sounding, hard rocking.....HEAVY FECKIN ROCK! PERRY sounds most comfortable vocal wise on "THE CRYING OF LOT 246" and "DOWNER," coming across as a mix of ERIC WAGNER's mellower moments with the edge of LUTHER BELTZ. However, it has to be said that the vocals on the rather excellent "ON THE SLAB" are NOT up to par with the others, which is a shame, as he has without a doubt put a lot of work and effort into this. But they are still, might I add, rather fine. I really am however confident that this is possibly one of the most exciting things in this vein in many years blowing the piss out of all that SOUTHERN BORED stuff, its been, along with the new Twisted Tower Dire album in heavy rotation here in the FOUNDATION's vaults. As most of you know I rarely recommend anything in this vein unless I feel that the conviction is there, and it certainly meets that criteria... I would say, only a total ARSE would ignore this. 9/10 -Rich Walker, THE MISKATONIC FOUNDATION ONLINE FORUM |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - The return of the power trio. And we thought that the power trio concept ended sometime in the late 80's when Triumph disbanded.... Falcon is the project of ex-Destinys End and current Artisan/Metal Manics scribe Perry Grayson. He started this project witha guitar and a drum machine, before bringing ex-Cirith Ungol bassist Greg Lindstrom and Pale Divine drummer Darin McCloskey in the fold. The resulting collaboration sounds like it came straight from '72 in every aspect except the fact it's on them new-fangled CD-Rs. Four tracks, each one steeped in vintage Rush-like progression and traces of 70's grand masters such as Uriah Heep, Pentagram, Captain Beyond and especially Bang. My favorite track, "On the Slab" is dire warning against addictions and is dedicated to Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott. I listened to this thing five times in a row as I was tooling down the 405 today... amazing guitar work and progressive tempo changes that went out of fashion as soon as Neil Peart lost the mustasche. If there was a drawback to Falcon, it's the vocals.... On "The Crying of Lot 246" the sound especially disembodied from the rest of the music, like it was recorded in the men's restroom down the hall. Grayson is a remarkably versatile guitar player, and while the voice doesn't always match his skill on the six string, it's got that kinda charm that Frank Ferrara had in Bang... it's not good, but somehow it works. I'll be curious to see what these guys come up with in the future... they're off to a damn compelling start. -Chris Barnes, HELLRIDE MUSIC.COM |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - ...And before even enjoying listening to the excellent demo by Sabatan, here comes this release that made me feel one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises of all this time that I involve with Behind the Veil. This surpises are based on 2 reasons. First of all I am a big fan of CIRITH UNGOL and "Frost And Fire" is one of my most beloved albums. By the time I pushed the play button, my excitement was huge. The first song "Shelob's Lair" is like it came from the first Cirith Ungol album. Amazing and all of you who love Cirith Ungol you will realize what I say as soon as you listen to the song. "Shelob's Lair" was composed by the man who was also responsible for "Frost And Fire," the holy monster answering to the name Greg Lindstrom. The second reason is because I always liked '70s hard rock as it was performed by bands like LED ZEPPELIN, THIN LIZZY, BLACK SABBATH and SCORPIONS and these gentlemen managed to perfectly recreate that atmosphere, without copying it like the stoner rock bands do. It's not a coincidence that this band consists of great musicians like Perry Grayson (ex-DESTINY'S END, now in ARTISAN), Darin McCloskgy (PALE DIVINE) and Greg Lindstrom (CIRITH UNGOL). Friends of quality hard rock and Cirith Ungol this release is more than a must for your collection. All the songs are incredible. The only objection I have is on the production, since I expected some better results by these guys. I wish I had a record label...I'd make sure not to lose this band at any cost!!! -Nick "William Kidd" Parastatidis, BEHIND THE VEIL (Greece) |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - FALCON is a new power trio operating out of California, U.S.A. and they play 1970's inspired heavy rock. Although this is a new project, the line-up includes three familiar faces indeed : Perry Grayson on vocals & guitars (ARTISAN, ex DESTINY'S END), bassist Greg Lindstrom (ex CIRITH UNGOL) and drummer Darin McCloskey (PALE DIVINE). Like I just said: don't expect any speed or doom metal. On the other hand, the opening tune, Shelob's Lair, sounds totally along the lines of very early CIRITH UNGOL. Not surprisingly, since the music and lyrics were written by Greg, and considering that this is actually an old CIRITH UNGOL song that wasn't released before, nor properly recorded in the early 1980's. A typical CIRITH UNGOL tune indeed, with Perry sounding a bit akin to Tim Baker, and including two great solos, one by Perry and the other courtesy of Greg. On the remaining three songs all lyrics and music are courtesy of Perry, and these are even more sounding like the very early 1970's. The strength of this release is that all four songs are different, although they all sound very authentic. On The Slab is dedicated to the late Phil Lynott, and as a result it sounds like Ireland's finest as well : the overall atmosphere, but also the riffs and Perry's voice during the chorus. Downer is a cool groovy song, while "The Crying Of Lot 246" is a bit more doomy, and includes a typical 1970's wah-wah solo. FALCON is definitely a heavy rock band rooted in the early 1970's tradition, along the lines of BUDGIE, MOUNTAIN, THIN LIZZY, PENTAGRAM, BANG, RUSH, Australia's BUFFALO, ... Demo 2003 was recorded live (and not very produced) at Sound Arena Studios on March 29th and comes as a plain CD-r, but since it's the music that matters it's heavily recommended to all into groovy and heavy 1970's heavy rock. It's available for U.S. $ 5.00 (in the U.S.A.) or U.S. $ 8.00 (rest of the world) from : Perry Grayson / 6442 Pat Ave. / West Hills / CA 91307 / U.S.A. And some more great news : from what Greg told me FALCON intends to record 3 or 4 more unreleased CIRITH UNGOL tunes in the future! CIRITH UNGOL rules, just like FALCON!! -Eddy Vermeiren, DEN OF INEQUITY (Belgium) |
FALCON - DEMO 2003 - Remember
when we were discussing the activities of the former guitarist of the godly
Destiny’s End, Perry Grayson, i.e Falcon, his project with Greg Lindstrom
on bass and Darin McCloskey on drums? Well, time has come to officially present
their first demo recording, consisting of four tracks, sadly of a mediocre
production. "Shelob’s Lair" is a Lindtrom composition, hailing from his "Frost
& Fire" era with Cirith Ungol…a mysterious, slow-paced protometal mini
epic. "Downer", already a column’s fave, dwells in a truly seventies style,
manifestating brutal heavy rock with devilish solos by Grayson, who has penned
this song as well as all the others. The next track, "The Crying of Lot 246"
introduces us to very obscure '70s hard rock places, inasmuch it draws strong
influences from bands like Dust, Bang, Buffalo and Trapeze. Finally, there
is "On The Slab", dedicated to the fond memory of no one less than Phil Lynott,
so it comes as no surprise that it reminds me of Thin Lizzy and early Iron
Maiden. Parallel to the blatant seventies touch, Falcon also bring Manilla
Road and Cirith Ungol in mind, of course when these bands were in their beginning.
I also insist that Falcon have a certain Firebird taste and I think you
will agree with me, if you’ve had the chance to listen to their demos. I
suggest that you show interest…
-Vasilis Zacharopoulos (progster75@hotmail.com), METAL HAMMER #223 (Greece) |