This album is not typical for us although the musicians and/or the bands they hail from should be somewhat familiar. Tom Englund (Evergrey, Redemption) and Vikram Shankar (Redemption) are members of metal bands that have produced some quite good music within our usual wheelhouse. Silent Skies is going to be a stretch sonically for die-hard metal or hard rock fans out there. However, for the adventurous and open, this is a highly recommended release.
This is how Silent Skies began:
Everything began a few years back when Englund stumbled across one of Shankar’s piano renditions of an Evergrey song. “I instantly realized that he understood what Evergrey was all about,” Englund says. “I don’t think we would have ever worked together were it not for this.” Shankar has been an Evergrey fan ever since his high school days. “They are part of my musical DNA,” the artist from North Carolina states. “I listened to them for years and years. The way they made music influenced my way of writing and playing, too. When Tom and I are making music, I instantly know what he wants to say. We speak a common musical language. We both want to express that which touches us profoundly. Only then,” the pianist says, “music can truly move others.”
Silent Skies is hard to describe by genres. There is a clear nod to dreamy pop music, but it is much darker. Instrumental focus is on keyboards and synthesizers where piano plays a prominent position and often used as the main voice for melodies. Strings are another prominent voice that is used to great emotional effect, but beyond that, the underlying texture is a complex texture of keyboard voices working together, organically changing through the song. Clean, emotionally-laden vocals layer within the musical ecology set by the instruments to make a complete organic entity.
The key to unlocking the meaning of Silent Skies lies in the lyrics and their delivery. Lyrics are introspective and are delivered by Tom to the listener, as if they were the only one ever to hear. The album has been described as a conversation with life about life and as such don’t attach a particular ideology to them. The subjects tend to be relationship-focused with themes around pain, self-actualization, healing and darkness. Although not Christian, it has some themes that should be familiar and understood relative to Christ. Although there is an ever present darkness hovering that may weigh the listener down, there are hints of hope in the lyrics like the silver-lining in clouds.
“Light Up the Dark” was the tune that spoke the most to me personally. The lyrics are spoken to another saying that they light up the dark. Like many of the other lyrics, it is ambiguous as to whether it is between lovers, between friends, or between vocalist and God leaving the interpretation up to the listener. My interpretation for my private listening session was a prayer to God which unlocked a whole internal conversation for me.
The last three tracks on the album are covers of popular rock/metal tunes. Silent Skies reduces the originals to the main musical ideas within their characteristic complex dreamy texture. Its like seeing a friend for the first time in 20 years and noticing that they gained weight, changed their style, and grown their hair out. The core is the same, but the emphasis has changed. Tom’s singing style along with Vikram’s soundscape alters the purpose of the song to blend in better with the lyrical content in the main ten tracks of the album.
For example, “The Trooper” was a real surprise. Just listening to Iron Maiden’s version, it is hard to see it as an introspective tune with its battle-inspired lyrics and helter-skelter metal, but once you hear Vikram’s rendition of the main riff, it takes the whole battle scene into a dreamy introspective fog. The vocal delivery changes the focus from narrative to almost an existential musing. I get the image of Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings” when he puts the ring on and looks at the real world (even battles) through a shadowy fog.
A couple of songs that I thought were notable during the trek through the album. The first is “New Life.” In typical fashion, we start in softer dynamics where piano is playing more prominently in the mix with a clear minor/sad tonality. Lyrically there is a focus on past scars and how that has impacted the present and possibly the future. There are glimpses of a musical contrast between light and dark. There is a piano motif in the middle that exemplifies this struggle. As the song works to its peak in the crescendo, it almost sounds like “light” (a major tonality) will win, but gets pulled back right at the end as if to say we are not out of the woods yet. Personally disappointing, but artistically awesome. “Reset” I think is probably the most metalhead-ready tune on the album. So if you are not quite sure this is for you, check this one out first. Definitely a more melancholic and dark tune but it is easy to imagine the piano as the stand-in rhythm guitar.
This is a flawless execution of a deep, dark, melancholic artistic vision that begs to be handled gently. In order to get the full effect, it needs to be given the full attention of your ears and mind. I would recommend listening through headphones and have nothing much else to do in order to focus. Although not as rough and raw as metal, it still is quite heavy in terms of lyrical subject. For those that enjoy trying something new and wanting a new prompt to ponder the meaning of life, I think “Dormant” fits that bill perfectly. Highly Recommended!
Rating: 9.5/10
Written by Sean Bailey
Tracklist
1 – Construct
2 – New Life
3 – Churches
4 – Just Above the Clouds
5 – Reset
6 – Tides
7 – The Real Me
8 – Light Up the Dark
9 – Dormant
10 – The Last On Earth
11 – The Trooper (Bonus)
12 – Dancing in the Dark (Bonus)
13 – Numb (Bonus)
Silent Skies is:
Tom S. Englund – vocals
Vikram Shankar – instruments
Release Date: September 1, 2023
Record Label: Napalm Records
Discography:
Satellites (2020)
Nectar (2022)
Dormant (2023)
Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Video for ‘Construct’
Video for ‘Churches’
Video for ‘Reset’
Visualizer video for ‘The Trooper’
