SKYWISE (Morning Star) CD
After several demos and promos this Italian foursome comes up with the debut on German Daredevil Records and I still dig their brand of 70's doom-tinged spacey Heavy Rock. SKYWISE's songs are mostly based on minimalistic constructions with some very slow moments and lot of catchy melodies, like the title track "The Darkest Hour (Morning Star)" . There are also songs like "My Rotten Kingdom" with a darker atmosphere or the slow rolling "Hellgate". In some moments "Morning Star" reminds me a lot to some of these obsure 60's/70's heavy bands like Bulbous Creation or Sainte Anthony's Fyre. They have captured the same vibe, production- and soundwise. SKYWISE have recorded the debut again in the Temple Of Noise Studio like the "Promo 2000" release (see review). The production's not thick and heavy, more dry and natural sounding but for my taste there's a small lack of power in it. I enjoyed it at the demo/promo recordings, but I've expected more from a debut. But that's my only point of critic . The ninth and last track "Farewell Blues" is an amazing live recording, much heavier like the studio tracks.To sum it up, SKWISE are on the best way to create an own identity with this enjoyable mixture of 60's sounding leadvocals and heavy doom space punk rock and this debut is a very good start.
(KK)