Style: traditional (clean vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 26-09-2018
NOTE: This album was originally included in the 2018 missed albums issue of The Progressive Subway
I was really sad I missed this album for September. There was just so much good stuff I had to shove it to missed albums. 5 songs, 2 of which are over 20 minutes and strong Dream Theater influences are what got me on board with this. The skeptic in me told me there’s no way this was gonna end well, but I always cherish this small spark of hope in me that I found the next great thing. And thus, I listened to it.
Holy fuck, really holy fuck. These dudes can play, seriously. Be it the riffage, drum grooves or the solos there’s something to enjoy for you in every category. In terms of musical peaks, this album easily rivals the likes of Dream Theater and Symphony X at their best. The solos these guys put out are insane. The instrumental wankery is at a near unprecedented level here. And I’m not even joking. It also sounds phenomenal too. It’s basically Scenes from a Memory production-wise, but then with even louder drums.
However, not all is roses and sunshine with Sky Empire, as there’s one major, major flaw with this band. He can play for sure, but his compositional ability is lacking, a lot. You know how Dream Theater always get the criticism for mindless soloing? Well, this band makes Dream Theater seem like Bach in comparison in terms of compositional ability. All problems of this album can be viewed through the lens of the song Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the first of the two grand epics. It starts with an gut-wrenching intro, and for a good while it seems like you’re in for an absolutely amazing song. After about 3 minutes the vocals come in. They are a bit bland as he sounds like basically every singer ever, but that can be forgiven in this genre. LaBrie isn’t a miracle either. It moves along nicely, and halfway the 7th minute he stops singing and it turns instrumental. So far all is good, absolutely amazing solos and buildups at every corner.
But around the 10th minute you start wondering when the vocals will come back as all the soloing starts to become a bit tiring. Then three minutes later it’s still going, and it. just. doesn’t. stop. It’s just wank after wank after wank. A constant climax if you will. Then finally, after 10 minutes of relentless, and I have to stress this again and again, mindboggling soloing, the singer comes back to wrap up the song, but it just doesn’t work as the climax has long passed already. Then after his small cameo the guitars come back in for a finale solo a la Octavarium, but it just keeps on going and going and going. I could easily show at least three points where it could have stopped without losing any power or memorability, but didn’t.
And there you have it. This is truly the epitome of musical masturbation. If you like cool technical playing, this will blow your socks off. But if you value good composition, stay far, far away from this. Even I, as a major Dream Theater fan (heck I even moderate r/Dreamtheater), turned numb to all the soloing after a while. Proceed at your own risk.
Recommended tracks: Sorcerer’s Apprentice will tell you everything
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Symphony X
Final verdict: WANK/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Rock Company – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Sky Empire is:
– Yordan Ivanov (vocals)
– Drazic Lecutier (guitars)
– Inaldo Ramos (drums)
– Tony Snow (bass)
– Tom Hobson (keyboards)
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