NO
SKY TODAY - No Sky Today
Record Label: Capitol City Music Factory
Release date: December 28th, 2010
Disc: 12 tracks, playing time:48.26
Reviewed by: Peter Mondria
My rating points: 9/10
Started as Kelly Keeling, John Norum, Jennifer Batten and
Tony Franklin's guitartechnician, Wayne Findlay more or less has become
a part of the Michael Schenker Group, in which he both plays the rythmguitar
and the keyboards since 1999. Regardless his -for years now- fully
stacked touringschedule, Wayne's grabbed the opportunity to pull up
to several projects.
We witnessed Slavior's debut in 2007, a collaboration between Mark
Zonder (drums) and Gregg Analla (vocals), now working on their second
piece of art.
A long unfulfilled wish was being fulfilled last year, when Wayne
displayed his composing and producing ambitions on the recently launched
results from the recently new formed rockgroup 'No Sky Today'.
After recording a 12-track setlist, a joint composition with Paul
Jones (Robot Lords of Tokyo), Kelly Garni (Quiet Riot), Scotty Phillips
(Waysted) and special guest Kelle Rhoads (Randy's brother), I can
not conclude otherwise that mr. Findlay anchored his skills as being
a producer, composer and - of course- a musician!
As being a foursome, 'No Sky Today' has been able to launch a high-quality
and very convincing first appearance. This production is phenominal,
due to amazingly well-balanced harmonies between the instruments,
the overpowering sounds of percussion, covered with astonishing
guitar- and keyboardarragements from the master himself! Also compliments
to Paul who is responsible for all the great lyrics.
'No Sky Today' is a good album, packed
with progressive metal that bursts from high quality musicianship.
Again, production-wise the recording is solid. You can hear every
instrument perfectly, without losing all details.
There is a lot here to like. Lots of changes in pace and variation
of song delivery and lots of high energy hard rock. Wayne performs
an amazing array of lead and rhythm configurations throughout the
album. His big riffs and solos give me some good insights to his
guitar style. Besides the music, the artwork is also pretty cool.
Onto the review:
The first track, the title song, opens up with a aggressive distortion
guitar riff before drums comes in. The atmosphere of this song is
dark. Paul has a powerful vocal style that fits very well with the
music. Awesome drum beats. Nice backing vocals. At the end of the
song, a strident guitar sound is tossed right in your face..!
The next song 'She's On Fire' is another great song. Scotty
shines on this song with some excellent drumming. This track sounds
extremely powerful and tight, topped by Paul's powerful vocals.
It is a killer song...you really feel 'On Fire'.
'Final Hour' kicks off with another heavy, in your face
guitar riff, and some solid drumming. This song has an amazing bassline,
very strong rhythm guitar and a great guitar solo halfway.
The nearly 4-minute 'Heavy Is The Debt' is bursting with
energy and smashes you in the face from the first to the last second.
It has a really powerful and memorable chorus and some excellent
axe work. Wayne's guitar solo at 2:15 is absolutely incredible,
with some amazing tapping technique. One of my favorite songs.
The album goes from the strong rock song 'Another Goodbye'
to the semi-powerballad 'Escape'. This song has a very strong
melody line but in my opinion, Paul's vocals could be a bit better
for the second part of the song, sounding a bit strained at times.
The wah-wah solo in this song is mind-blowing. A very enjoyable
song that can't be overlooked.
Then there's the speedy 'Break Up'. There's really not much
to say about this song, it's basically just fast all the way through.
The guitar solo blew me away. Love the way how this song leads into
the instrumental acoustic guitar/ piano 'Intermezzo'. A jazz-based
track with some nice military style snare drumming.
The more aggressive 'Real Life' is a kind of straight-ahead
rocker. The song is heavy and rocks pretty hard with big crunching
grooves in the back. Turn this one up loud.
The second to last track on the album, 'Into The Sun' is
one of my favorite tracks. Another ballad, which is more catchy
but not really stronger than 'Escape'. Another great guitar solo,
and the presence of orchestration elements with some cool piano
parts at the end of the song. Masterpiece!!
'Pieces' is the absolute highlight of the album. It starts
with a distorted guitar riff accompanied by powerful drums. The
song has kind of a dark sound to it. This sound comes mainly through
a deep bass and rhythm guitar playing extremely aggressive and powerful
throughout the whole song
oh man, this is so cool!!! absolutely
brilliant!
'Pieces' also has a very strong melody line and a extremely catchy
chorus that won't leave your head. Again the axework is outstanding.
The last part of the lead at 3:15 to 3:30 gives me a deeply emotional
feeling. I have no words for this, you have to listen it for yourself.
The album leads out with the impressive and breathtaking song
'Gear Grinder'. It's a very fast paced song that starts right
off with the sound of a motorcycle.
Paul really shows off his amazing range and talent on this one.
A hard-rockin' song and a great way to close the album.
All in all this album is sensational and can be hardly recommended
to fans of any metal genre. Fervent drumming, powerful vocals, solid
bass, the songs are well-written and punctuated by intense guitar
solos.
To buy the CD and for more information, check out: www.reverbnation.com/noskytoday, www.cduniverse.com or www.cdbaby.com.
Februari 2011
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