Real
Artist: Gryp
Label: Indie
Time:  5 songs, 19:43

This CD is only 20 minutes long, but Gryp manages to cram an incredible  amount of variety into these five songs.  Overall the music could be called hardcore, but the list of other  influences on the music, and especially on Curtis Shamlin's vocals, is  quite long.  In addition to his effective hardcore scream, Shamlin utilizes some psychotic rap-style delivery, a sort of hardcore  whine, and a trippy, clean vocal--all slightly reminiscent of Allan  Aguirre (Scaterd Few/Spyglass Blue) or even Mike Muir (Suicidal  Tendencies). That's not all, though. There are also more metallic  vocals similar to the  vocals on Jesus Freaks' first CD Socially Unacceptable, some clean slower singing, some slower spoken parts that sound like that weird  voice Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) sometimes uses, and even a slight Hetfieldism on one song.

Musically, they play an enjoyable variety of metallic fast/slow hardcore with some psychedelic interludes. The singing is generally decipherable, which helps since there is no lyric sheet. From what I can gather, Gryp is clearly a band made up of Christian individuals who are very up-front about their beliefs and are not afraid to be honest before God.

This song does some heavy duty questioning and even directs some angry accusation toward God, but the conclusion shows the questioning individual realizing that God cares and was there the whole  time. A good song! 

One line from "Hypocrite" identifies the focus of the band:

Overall, the production is good and heavy. Although hardcore is not among my favorite musical styles, I enjoyed Real and didn't have any major complaints to speak of. 

By Chris King