Skyfire - Esoteric

August 23, 2009

Reviewer: Jesse

For all of its shortcomings, trendiness and over-saturation, melodic death metal did and still does harbor some truly transcendent and great albums ripe with ambition and talent.  They’re certainly few and far between these days and the sour taste that certain bands have left in the mouths of the naysayers as well as the original fan base is still too fresh to ignore which makes for a significant challenge for those still trying to carry the banner in a positive light.  Sweden’s Skyfire, a band that has gone relatively under the radar since its inception nearly 15 years ago, has done little up to this point to really stand out or challenge the stigma of the genre they’ve aligned themselves with.  That is until the release of their fourth full-length album, Esoteric, was unveiled and the ambition and talent, as mentioned in reflection a few sentences ago, has finally seemed to break through.

“Ambition” in the sense that they did not succumb to any negative association to the melodic death metal  genre, took a look in the mirror and realized that they were not going to roll over and needed to make a few changes that would upgrade them in the “talent” department.  Employing the services of long-time progressive guitar wiz Johan Reinholdz of Andromeda and Nonexist notoriety as well as making a change at vocals that had been helmed by Henrik Wenngren for the majority of their formation have seemed to be the breath of fresh air that Skyfire desperately needed.  Almost instantly, they went from being very heavily dependent on keyboards and symphonics to being overly guitar driven with beautiful melodies brought forth by exquisite riffing which no doubt come from extremely passionate song writing.  The keyboards are still abundant, but the piano setting has become the instrument of choice which adds a heaping pile of maturity to Esoteric not exactly found in their earlier albums.  When the synthetic symphony does become audible, it’s nearly always in the background and never hogs the spotlight.

Several times, a female choir will add a few seconds of unified chanting not unlike something you would hear on an old Tristania album.  Aside from that, vocally, Joakim Karlsson is an upgrade to the former singer.  It could be partly due to production value, but his gruff singing has just enough growl and just enough clarity to add some much needed personality to a genre where it seems as though 90% of the singers are interchangeable.  Karlsson expertly varies himself with the flow of the song and doesn’t just belt out the words in a raspy mid-scream. 

One thing I always judge an album by at least slightly is its level of memorable moments as that can generally lend absolute credence as to the devotion the band had in writing it and I’m happy to say that Esoteric is literally bursting at the seams with them.  Each song has a life and identity of its own yet clearly stays within the structure of the album’s overall personality.  The lead riffing is all over the place creating memorable note after memorable note.  “Darkness Descending,” “Misery’s Supremacy,” “Under a Pitch Black Sky,” “Rise and Decay,” “Esoteric”… shit I could name every song, but these in particular are pin-point examples of melodic death metal done right.  One album I’m reminded of slightly is Slumber’s Fallout simply for the piano and the abundance of single-esque songs crammed into one album.

The only thing that I can point out negatively of this album, and this is really just coming from personal preference and not exactly a knock on the album, is that I would have liked if the songs had more of a darker atmosphere to them.  Not that this album is all sunshine and happiness or anything, but something a tad more oppressive and melancholic would have had me completely floored.  Nit-picking for sure.

If you are, or were, ever a fan of say, early Dark Tranquillity or Slumber, then you owe it yourself to at least give Skyfire a chance to win you over which they shouldn’t have much problem doing.  Excellent work.

Release Date: September 18, 2009
Label: Pivotal Rockordings

TRACK LISTING

1.  Deathlike Overture (Intro)
2.  Esoteric
3.  Rise and Decay
4.  Let the Old World Burn
5.  Darkness Descending
6.  Seclusion
7.  Misery's Supremacy
8.  Under a Pitch Black Sky
9.  Linger In Doubt
10.  The Legacy of the Defeated
11.   Within Reach

Total playing time: 52:16

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