Review: Skyglow – Thousand Years of Terror

Style: technical death metal, progressive metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Death, Atheist, Necrophagist, Watchtower
Review by: Sam
Country: Russia
Release date: 30 June 2018

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the June 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway, before we even had a website!]

Hmmm… These acoustic guitars are really relaxing. I can totally picture myself on a summer holiday in Spain, hanging in a hammock in the shade with a cold cola… BOOM. RIFFS. What the fuck is this time signature? Wait is this Mekong Delta? What the hell, where did these blast beats come from? Why are we suddenly screaming? How did this place suddenly turn into a war-zone? Why is everything suddenly on fire? Huh now there’s some lunatic playing piano in the midst of this. WHAT IS HAPPENING?

The answer is simple, Skyglow is happening. This album is crazy, no doubt about it. This is as if Mekong Delta decided to play progressive death metal instead of thrash. Constantly changing time signatures, sick ass riffs, random acoustic interludes, piano parts mixed with incredible technicality and you have this album. And there are even some melodic parts as Well. And what’s even more incredible is that despite all this craziness, the songwriting remains focused, resulting in some truly memorable tracks. As crazy as the time signatures may be, that doesn’t prevent these guys from laying down kickass riffs. If anything, the broken feel adds to their power. However, the melody and guitar solos do seem to suffer a bit under all the crazy time signatures, making them often feel a bit inconclusive and lacking in power. Especially the guitar solos are a bit of a let down compared to all the other madness present here. The album also ends in quite a disappointing fade-out, as if I suddenly decided they remembered they left the stove on at home and had to quit recording.

Though on the whole, those are only small spots on an otherwise phenomenal album. In short: this album slays. Fans of death metal really don’t want to miss this. This is definitely one of the best prog death albums I’ve heard this year. The only reason this isn’t at the top is because there have been many other stellar releases in this genre this year. And apparently it was done by only two dudes! They should be proud of themselves for this phenomenal debut album. Skyglow are definitely one of the bands you should watch out for in the coming years.

Recommended tracks: Sacred Self-Deceit, Limitless Fog of Anguish, Thousand Years of Terror
You may also like: Will ‘o’ Wisp, Mekong Delta, De Profundis
Final verdict: 8.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Grotesque Sounds Productions – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Skyglow is:
– Alexander Mokin (guitars, vocals, songwriting)
– Sergey Stepanenko (bass, guitars)

With guests:
– Dmitriy “Kim” Gerasimov (drums)