Sky of Forever
s/t

Disgustingly melodic! That is a thought that strikes me when first playing this album and its opening track Carry On. Super polished production with a flawless pop-rock sound that would fit on any radio station, and some guest guitars from well-known guitarist Bruce Kulick makes Carry On a possible hit song. But the album is quite super melodic all the way through the nine tracks and 36 minutes it consists of. A band I think will appeal to a great number of people, the songs are strong and the sound is excellent and they have a decently fresh sound without really breaking any new ground but they have a vocalist that has a fairly personal tune.

Catchy poppy rock music with some touches pointing towards some metal roots at some of the members, although they aren’t particularly heavy. The fact is that they are a bit too polished, maybe slightly overproduced and would really have benefitted from having more energy, more speed as it all feels placed in a comfort zone and doesn’t really challenge the band or the listener. The calmer songs are excellent but you always feel as though the speedier ones would have benefitted from more tempo and more energy, challenge vocal chords and guitar fingers more and you have a phenomenal album. Now they are left with a strong effort that leaves you knowing that they probably could have done much.

It would not really require any major effort to make it better either, just a little more push and a little more grittiness and they would be there. However, this is the debut album of these Finns and as such I can understand that they want to take a safer route but I feel it comes at the cost of the album as a whole. Not that it is anywhere near bad, I know that everyone who hear this album will like it as it is impossible to dislike but it could have been a bullseye, a homerun or whatever term you like to use for something perfect – and I doubt they will have the songs to get that chance anytime soon which leaves me always ambivalent when the album ends. On the one hand it is a great album with great songs, but on the other hand you feel that it should have been better.

Wild Hearts and Summer Rain along with the opener are probably my favourites but all the tracks on the album are great so picking a favourite isn’t easy even though the first mentioned is probably the one that catches most of my attention. I like this album even though I complain a bit about it, it is great but I always feel that they should have dared a little more and if they had done that they would have done something extraordinary. In the end, provided you understand my understanding of Finnish, there is just one thing to say: Mahtavaa albumi, mutta niiden pitäisi vapauttaa enemmän.

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