Skewed Skies: A Seaman's Journey

Bedroom producers are so much more than hackneyed recording set-ups and dad's old microphones. Misha Mansoor of Periphery and Acle Kahney of Tesseract (among countless others) began their young careers camped out in front of their computers, using current digital techniques to record their newest music and often posted these songs in forums for others to discover. From what I can tell from the press release, Andreas of Skewed Skies sails in the same boat.

This all-instrumental progressive metal recording A Seaman's Journey seems to focus more on the song at hand than at any specific guitar pyrotechnics. Opener "Set to the Sea" serves as a great beginning to quite a journey. Guitar tones are specific and focused as are the atmospherics in the background. There are some blast-beats here and there, but after a few listens one can detect some intentional orchestration.

"The Island of Torguga" begins without a seam and we find some shredding but it's tasteful and not lengthy. A change in dynamics and tone carries us through many transitions inside this seven-plus minute song. Half-way through the track there is a very sweet digression into a sequenced section which gets two thumbs up.

"St Elmo's Fire" starts with some tech metal that is reminiscent of Blotted Science then quickly chills into a nice head-bobbing groove. There are many ideas inside each song but everything comes across well-constructed.

The production, for those who are sticklers, is not "professional" but a great majority who listen wouldn't bat an eye. The drums may be provided by "Drumkit from Hell" but as far as being able to compose a CD in your home studio, this is great work.

If Animals as Leaders, Sithu Aye, and Scale the Summit pleases you then head out to Skewed Skies' bandcamp site and check this out and donate (or not) for a download.

Track Listing
1. Set to the Sea
2. The Island of Tortuga
3. St. Elmo's Fire
4. Mary Celeste
5. The Krakan
6. Leviathan
7. A Glimpse of the Other Side

Added: August 27th 2013
Reviewer: Ryan Good
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 1924
Language: english

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