Dark Side of the Chant by Gregorian

Dark Side of the Chant is Gregorian's 2010 album, the project that recasts modern songs as choral chant. Here they lean into darker material, rock and pop pulled into robed, candlelit form. The theme is shadow turned solemn, familiar songs made strange and weighty, and that odd transformation drew me in.

Why listen?

The sound is cavernous and slow, male voices layered over soft orchestral beds. The production is lush and reverberant, every line given a vaulted space to ring in. The source songs come from rock and pop, reworked until their hooks turn to something graver. There is a curious pull across the record, the pleasure of hearing the known made unfamiliar. It is music for dim rooms and long thoughts.

Favourite song: Bring Me to Life

The chant treatment suits this one, its plea for waking carried by solemn voices. It stands above the rest.

Wake me up inside
I can't wake up
Wake me up inside
Save me, call my name and save me from the dark
Bid my blood to run
I can't wake up
Save me from the nothing I've become
Bring me to life

The way the choir turns a rock plea into something almost liturgical is what stays with me. It reminds me of walking into a cold stone church after a long day on the hills, the quiet settling over you all at once. The album holds that hush, a path that leads indoors to stillness, and I have come back to it on dark evenings.

Key takeaway

Dark Side of the Chant is a curious, solemn novelty done with real craft. A gentle recommendation for a particular mood rather than every day.

Tracklist

• O Fortuna
• Stripped
• All I Need
• Hells Bells
• Born to Be Alive
• Morning Dew
• My Heart Is Burning
• Bring Me to Life
• Dark Side
• Frozen
• Black Wings
• Lucifer
• Dark Angel

Details

Listen on

• Apple Music
• Amazon
• Spotify

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