SKYFIRE

    Timeless Departure

   - 8 -

The story of this album is probably one of the more adventurous in my collection, but this is no ordinary album.  Back in the days of Napster, I traded mp3s on and off with a guy in Gothenburg I only knew as "Hinken!!!," and after a brief discussion with him over CHILDREN OF BODOM, he brought up the band in question.  Satisfied with my collection at the time, I blew him off, but decided to download a few tracks anyway, just on a whim.  Well, they sat on my hard drive for a good three or four months until lo and behold I finally ran out of music to play.  At about 11 PM I first clicked on a sample, and less than 24 hours later, the album was in my hands.

Now, that was a long intro, so let's get down to the music.  What do you get when CHILDREN OF BODOM and
DIMMU BORGIR have a baby (Assuming it were physically possible)?  Well chances are it'd sound a bit like
this album. Timeless Departure exhibits both the craftiness of DIMMU BORGIR  with the insane musicianship of
CHILDREN OF BODOM, finely tuned and combined with fairly creative lyrics which leave me fairly blown away.

SKYFIRE's greatest strength lies in their ability to layer sound upon sound.  The original melodies for each instrument are fairly simple, but they function like an evil Choir, which is magic to my ears.  Production is crisp, clear, and balanced; thanks to Abyss Studios and Tommy Tatgren (runs in the family?), and good tracks come in the synth-heavy, high-melody "The Universe Unveils," "Timeless Departure," and "Dimensions Unseen," though the rest of the album isn't that far behind.

The only complaint I can make, and the only thing keeping this from being a classic are the vocals.  Pure, shrieking, Black Metal vocals, which exist totally outside the rest of the music.  It sounds like the vocalist was receiving either dental work or some sort of throat surgery while he recorded his tracks, but whatever the reason, the result is something that the music could really do without.  Over-the-top?  Yes.  But it really doesn't detract from the beautiful centerpiece of the band's virtuoso musicality.

For such a young bad as SKYFIRE, this is one hell of a debut.  They're original as hell, talented in their songwriting, and with only a few minor tweaks, we have the makings of a future classic.
 

Editor's rating:   6.5
 
 
 

Contributed by Matt Gold

 

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