Style: traditional progressive metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Symphony X, Threshold
Review by: Sam
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 27 October, 2023
I still clearly remember Sky Empire’s debut The Dark Tower. Despite being released five years ago, the sheer absurdity of it is firmly implanted in my memory. Plenty of bands write solo sections like Dream Theater yet only few manage to match the New Yorker’s “wow” factor, let alone outdo them: Sky Empire did just that. Among other ridiculousness, The Dark Tower had a ten minute long solo section in a twenty minute epic.
However, wanking off your instruments is not all there is to making a good song, and, regrettably, Sky Empire were sorely lacking compositionally, being perhaps the purest instantiation of the stereotype that prog metal is just substanceless virtuosity I’ve ever come across. Sadly, their previous singer died a year after The Dark Tower was released. The band has since gotten Scott Soto (known from Yngwie Malmsteen and Sons of Apollo, among others) on board and became more experienced songwriters, so I was very curious to see how their sophomore album turned out.
Many things changed with The Shifting Tectonic Plates of Power – Part One (from here on referred to as just Plates). The music has gotten a lot more cinematic and focused, as is evident from the opening track “Prolegomenon – The Encomium of Creation,” a fifteen minute classically inspired instrumental that – while indulging in plenty of shred – also contains an easy through-line to follow and ends up already more coherent than anything on the debut. Ballad structures are a thing now, too, as is evident from the second track “On the Shores of Hallowed Haven” and the midway epic “Wayfarer.” In general, there is a lot more restraint to be found in their compositions, with significantly shorter songs and less shred. Over half the songs are roughly as long or shorter than the shortest track on The Dark Tower, which is much for the better. In particular, the aforementioned “Shores” is a lovely ballad, and “Into My Father’s Eyes” is an upbeat rocker that greatly benefits from its linear composition.
Another thing of note about Plates is that it’s a concept album, telling an opaque story about love and destiny; its protagonist tries to fill the hole in his soul that material possessions cannot satisfy and ends up flying too close to the sun without doing the proper inner work, leaving the story at a low point for an eventual Plates Part 2. Overall, the story’s not too bad, but there’s a frustrating reliance on clichéd metaphors like “World at his feet yet he dreamed of the stars,” or “Through the eyes of a child\\So innocent and pure.” As for the vocals, while Soto does a good job and is a technically competent singer, unimaginative vocal melodies made it hard for me to fully buy into his performance, and I often found his lines a tad overperformed. I would have liked a few more daring vocal runs or bold cadences in the vocal writing.
What’s not changed though are some of the questionable writing decisions. In “The Emissary,” for example, Sky Empire creates a beautiful cinematic bridge with emotive melodic solos, but the groovy rock riff the song is built around has a completely different feel so the bridge loses its impact by tonal whiplash when the chorus is brought back. It would have fit much better on the slowburner “Wayfarer,” which for some reason does underpin its solos with a cool rocking riff that again sounds out of place, but now it’s the other way around. The song in general is overlong and overwrought in its melodrama and doesn’t tie its distinct elements together in a satisfying way.
This is unlike the instrumental “The Last Days of Planet Fantasy” though, which is cohesive and brings the band’s best elements of groovy rock riffs and melodic talent to the forefront unimpeded. Closer “House of Cards” is a solid attempt at a three act structure with a ballad-esque opening to set the stage, an intense middle part built on breakneck riffs and blazing solos, and a slower, epic closing section. The song is full of captivating ideas, such as the lead bass in the beginning verses, the frantic riff at 7:26 and its ensuing solo section, or the marching groove and harmonized vocals that close the song, but it also loses its footing in its middle act, and, as cool as the final part is, I wish they had hinted at it earlier – perhaps as a recurring motif throughout the album – in a way that it would have been a natural musical conclusion of all they had built to this point. In its current form it comes out of nowhere which diminishes its impact.
With Plates, Sky Empire take multiple steps forward as songwriters but also show that there are significant strides to be made still. The instrumental songs are great, and when they keep the compositions simple, I enjoy those with vocals too, but in the more ambitious structures they haven’t quite figured out how to marry their instrumental talent to thematic cohesion, often resulting in an awkward salad of ideas that don’t always mix well. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy here despite my criticisms. At its core, Plates is a solid slab of traditional progressive metal that anyone with an affinity for the style will enjoy.
Recommended tracks: Prolegomenon – The Encomium of Creation, On the Shores of Hallowed Haven, Into My Father’s Eyes
You may also like: Pyramid Theorem, Nospun, Shadow Gallery, Lalu (bandcamp)
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: ViciSolum Productions – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
Sky Empire is:
– Scott Soto (vocals)
– Drazic Lecutier (guitars)
– Tom Hobson (keyboards)
– Tony Snow (bass)
– Inaldo Ramos (drums)
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