Style: Progressive Pop (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Evergrey, Einar Solberg, late Anathema, Lunatic Soul, sad pop singers
Review by: Sam
Country: Sweden
Release date: 1 September, 2023
Over the years, Tom Englund has become progressive metal’s foremost frontman when it comes to The Big Sad™. Ever since putting themselves on the mainstage with In Search of Truth, Evergrey have been the frontrunners of sadness and melancholy in the genre, not in part due to Tom’s heart wrenching vocal performances. A few years ago, he decided that even Evergrey wasn’t sad enough for his vocal talents, so he joined up with keyboardist Vikram Shankar and started Silent Skies in which they stripped away any remaining metal aspects so that only sadness remains. As a huge Evergrey fanboy, I can never have enough of Tom’s misery (please dude, don’t be happy, that’d break my heart), so I had to review this.
Dormant is a very ethereal album. Vikram’s electronic synths provide a large, dream-like ambience throughout, of course, with different shades of depression. Each song draws from a slightly different palette of influences however, giving color and different shading to the tracks. Some songs make heavy use of piano, others go for an 80s vibe a la Haken’s Affinity, and sometimes they use cello (mostly in bridges) to pull on your heartstrings as if Tom’s vocals weren’t enough. Vikram’s performance is stellar and his synths alone are enough to move me. Also from a production standpoint it sounds full of life with a mix that really bathes you in its music.
Tom’s vocals are, as expected, unfathomably gloomy, but that’s not all. Each track comes with great emotional nuance, and on several songs he actually manages to sound hopeful, sometimes even coming close to sounding upbeat (Abort! Abort!). Take “Reset”, a song resigned to somberness for its first half, which takes a turn for the optimistic in its chorus and puts its lyrics in an upbeat rhythmic delivery for the verses after. “The Real Me” similarly has a dangerous feel-good vibe with its bright 80s synths and anthemic chorus, and likewise the opener “Construct” almost sounds triumphant near the end. “New Life” however, is a more classic sad track that shows braveness in its lyrics, but ultimately resigns itself to despair (fuck yeah!). Its combination of piano, cello, electronic percussion, and poignant vocals makes for a deeply moving track. On “Dormant” strong trance elements present themselves, giving even more depth to the record’s sonic palette.
There’s just a certain elegance to how these tracks are constructed. Vikram’s nuanced layering of sounds and Tom’s vocal talents really bring out the best in each other. This is not really a prog record in the sense of odd-time signatures and technical wizardry, but the way these songs increase in layers and handle dynamics definitely fits the vibe of prog. I must go back to “New Life” once again because it’s just that perfect. At first it’s a simple piano ballad, but before you know it the cello swells, percussion is everywhere, and it delivers on a huge crescendo as if you’re listening to a late Anathema song. “Tides” and “The Last on Earth” also stand out majorly in this regard.
I find it hard to evaluate a record like this properly. Though deftly nuanced between the tracks, the overwhelming vibe is specific. This is not something you put on lightly. It’s a record to tear your heart out. Tom’s vocal talents are a given at this point in time. The dude still leaves me speechless by just how much emotion he can put into each and every line, and the ambience from Vikram is just as moving. Heck, I would probably cry if Tom recorded a song about the peanut butter sandwich he devoured this morning. As an album artform, I cannot just put a number on it. Each song has the ability to make me cry, but at the same time its introversion can make it fly straight past me if I’m not in the mood.
Recommended tracks: New Life, Reset, The Last on Earth, The Trooper
You may also like: Oak, Haven of Echoes, Playgrounded
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | RYM page
Label: Napalm Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Silent Skies is:
– Tom Englund (vocals)
– Vikram Shankar (piano, keyboards)
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