UMUR "Grey Heavens" is the 7th full-length studio album by Finnish melodic death metal act Omnium Gatherum. The album was released through Lifeforce Records in February 2016. It´s the successor to "Beyond" from 2013 and features the exact same lineup who recorded that album. Omnium Gatherum have existed since 1996 and have slowly but steadily build a fanbase with each new album.

Stylistically the music on "Grey Heavens" continues the melodic death metal style from "Beyond (2013)". In fact the development of sound between the two releases is minimal, which could have been a problem, but really isn´t on "Grey Heavens". The quality and the catchiness of the material is simply too high for me to bother with the band´s deadlock when it comes to the development of their sound. Omnium Gatherum play what sounds like a combination of early Amorphis and early In Flames. The music is predominantly heavy, mid-paced, and epic, with an occasional nod towards ethnic Scandinavian folk in the lead themes. There are a couple of faster-paced and more energetic tracks featured on the album too though ("The Pit" and "The Great Liberation" are examples of that), so there is a relatively good level of diversity on the album. The vocals are deep growling which is occasionally spiced up with some atmospheric clean vocals. Usually delivered with harmony vocals/choirs. It´s a very effective vocal cocktail and suits the instrumental part of the music well. Keyboards also play quite a big part in the music. They help support the epic melody themes and layer the music with harmonies.

Along with the high level musicianship, and the heavy and very well sounding, and detailed sound production, it´s the epic melodies and majestic melancholic atmosphere of the music, which take "Grey Heavens" to a special high quality level. Everything just sound like it´s placed in the right place at the right moment throughout the album and while some listeners might find it odd for me to call "Grey Heavens" tranquil and pleasant when it ultimately is a death metal album, there is something strangely calming about it. It comes down to mastering your craft to perfection, and that is what Omnium Gatherum do. They are not particularly original sounding, nor are they on a mission to change their sound radically between albums. On the contrary they actually seem fully content delivering what they do and to my ears they do that so well that a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.