Metal Underground.com

Keeping the flame of grunge alive, the Gravity Guild's self-titled 2006 album is an interesting blend of Seattle-brewed styles, ranging from sludgy Soundgarden riffs, to effects-laden guitar work reminiscent of Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell. These songs will definitely have children of the 1990s rummaging around for their old flannels.

Singer Colin Simson more than earns his keep, with vocals reminiscent of Chris Cornell on "SLO" and Layne Staley on the Alice in Chains-style rocker "Little Pill." Also impressive is Jay Way on guitars, coming up with some great sludgy riffs on tracks like "Collide" and "2 Birds 0 Stones."

That said, the album really does feel like a collection of outtakes from other bands. When the band's MySpace page reads "Sounds like: Soundgarden; Stone Temple Pilots; Led Zeppelin; Incubus; Black Sabbath; Sevendust; Audioslave; Alice in Chains," you'd better believe it. Those aren't bad inspirations, by any means — but they're also among the most common in modern metal, and there's not much the band does to differentiate itself from the pack.

On the other hand, not many of the Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Alice imitators do it as well as Gravity Guild does. Moreover, this is an excellent album (it should be, as Jay Way is also a recording engineer), with an emphasis on low-end sounds gives it considerable heft.

The Gravity Guild's self-titled debut album (available for just $5 on the band's MySpace page) isn't the most original album you'll ever hear. Still, when it comes to distilling down what made grunge great, few modern bands do it better.