PAYNE'S GRAY — Kadath Decoded (review)

PAYNE'S GRAY — Kadath Decoded album cover

Album · 1995 · Progressive Metal

3.5/5 · 2025-01-06
UMUR

"Kadath Decoded" is the debut full-length studio album by German progrssive metal act Payne´s Grey. The album was independently released in 1995. Payne´s Grey formed in 1988 in the city of Karlsruhe and were active in the early- to mid-90s, releasing two demos (one in 1990 and another in 1991) and this debut full-length studio album. Since the release of the 1991 "Infinity" demo Haluk Balikci has been added as a second lead vocalist. Two male vocalists made Payne´s Grey stand out on the 90s progressive metal scene, but although they managed to tour with Psychotic Waltz as support act on the latter´s 1996 European tour supporting their "Bleeding" (1995) album, they never got a real breakthrough, and they are more or less just a cult band/footnote in progressive metal history. "Kadath Decoded" would be their sole studio album in their original run.

Cult bands/footnote artists don´t necessarily have to be poor artists though, and Payne´s Grey certainly have a lot to offer to fans of 90s progressive metal. "Kadath Decoded" features 12 tracks and total playing time of 67:19 minutes, so it´s quite a long release. It´s a concept album build on the H. P. Lovecraft novella "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" (originally written by Lovecraft in 1926/1927 but only posthumously published by Arkham House in 1943). It´s a story of a nightmarish dream realm, and Payne´s Grey successfully capture the abstract occultist/monster horror of Lovecraft.

Keyboard player Tomek Turek is obviously an incredibly skilled musician and a lot of the music is based on his playing and musical ideas. The rest of the band are well playing too, but considering that "Kadath Decoded" is a progressive metal album, it´s a more dark and atmospheric release than a heavy and sharp metal ditto. It´s a higly dynamic release featuring both loud epic sections and more subtle atmospheric sections. In addition to the omnipresent keyboards, the music features guitars, bass, and drums, but also the occasional use of flute (played by guitarist Jan Schröder). The two vocalists sing a lot of harmony vocals, but also deliver their own parts. They have very similar voices though, which is a bit of a shame as two more different sounding vocalists could probably have made the vocal part of the music more varied and interesting. To my ears it´s a missed opportunity. It´s not that the music requires a beauty/beast type of vocal delivery, but two different sounding voices could have created another dynamic and provided the music with an exciting dimension. When that is said the vocals are generally well performed in typical high pitched power/progressive metal style.

"Kadath Decoded" features a decent quality sound production, although it lacks a bit of punch and heaviness. You can hear all details though and as mentioned above it´s just not the most heavy and metal oriented progressive metal release out there. The emphasis is on the arrangements (dominanted by the keyboards) and the dark atmospheres. Upon conclusion "Kadath Decoded" is a highly unique progressive metal album from the 90s. It´s not that you haven´t heard all the elements used before on other releases from other artists, but Payne´s Grey manage to use those elements and create something which doesn´t really sound like anything else. I´m sure with more experience and more albums under their belts, that Payne´s Grey could have gone on to greatness, but as "Kadath Decoded" ended up being their sole album release, that obviously wasn´t to be. They left behind a pretty interesting release though and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.