Let me preface this review by saying that I've been a big
Skylark fan for some time now. I was introduced to their music via their
Gate of Hell album (which to this day is one of my favorite Power Metal albums), and I've been following their career ever since.
Skylark seems to take a lot of shit from both critics and Metal fans for being insipid and unoriginal, but they've always possessed an unexplainable quality that's kept me coming back for more. Perhaps it's the wildly melodic, shredding guitar solos, or the ultra-catchy Power Metal tracks like
Belzebu, but whatever it is, I like
Skylark. With that said - their new album
Wings was an utter disappointment, and by far the worst album the band has released thus far. To be fair, after 5 or so spins of this disc I do enjoy the first two tracks quite a bit; they have a happy, catchy quality to them that is classic
Skylark, but even those two are elementary and uber-simplistic.
Before I dive into the review, I'd like to post some of my initial impressions of
Wings from a few weeks ago. I was sitting in a
Chicago airport at the time, it was after midnight, and 5 flights of mine in a row had been cancelled. I wasn't in the best of moods, so I thought I'd pop in
Wings and jot down some thoughts on paper to try to lift my spirits. As you'll be able to tell.that didn't quite happen.here are my initial thoughts:
"Wow.this isn't Metal at all! What did they do? Very light, once again almost NO bass whatsoever.this really sucks.wait, did I put in the wrong disc? No.no, it's the right one.HORRIBLE production.sheesh.was this album recorded in a seashell? Maybe if I hold the CD up to my ass I can hear the ocean! Why are they hurting me like this, what did I ever do to them? SKYLARK HAS FORSAKEN ME! Ooh, the airport bar is still open! Yeah!!"
After that I chucked the disc back into my backpack and there it stayed for a couple of weeks. When I did finally give it another chance, I found that I didn't
hate it, but the one word that kept floating around my head as I listened to it was "blah". By far, the single largest problem with the past albums of
Skylark has been the production. Their first two albums sounded as if they were recorded and mixed in an outhouse, and while their next three discs were serviceable, the drums and bass were almost nonexistent. With
Wings Skylark has somehow taken a gigantic leap backwards in the production department. I do realize that the band was going for a much lighter sound, with more acoustic guitars and slower pieces, but there is no excuse for such a tinny, underwhelming production after putting out six albums. The seashell comment from my initial notes above is actually fairly accurate.
Onto the music. And let me just say beforehand that I'm exercising tremendous restraint by not posting a simple "this album sucks" as my review. As far as the good: the first two tracks,
Rainbow in the Dark and
Summer of 2001,
are both reasonably good songs. They're the only two tracks on the album that remind me of old
Skylark in the least, and both contain memorable, catchy choruses that I sometimes find myself singing. While more Hard Rock-y than Metal, these tracks contain the obligatory happy guitar/keyboard solos that usually populate
Skylark's music, along with the high-pitched wailing of Fabio Dozzo. Fabio needs to loosen up his nuts from the vice they're in, because the notes that he's hitting do NOT sound natural for the guy. In some instances his unnecessary shrieks take you completely out of the music, leaving you wondering, "why, just why?" Luckily it's not as bad on
Wings as it was in the past, so listeners won't have to suffer too much.
The rest of the album.yeah.I probably won't be listening to any of it again. Ever. I mean, I was thrilled and giddy when I read the track listing for the first time and saw that track 4 was called
Belzebu 2. "All right!" I thought, "A sequel to one of their best tracks of all time, I can't wait to hear it!" As it turns out, yeah, I could have waited. It's completely uninspired, with a boring melody and some truly mediocre songwriting. I don't know what happened, but almost all of the guitar solos and keyboard parts on
Wings sound as if they were written and performed by Muppet Babies or something. I could have played the guitar solos on this album 5 minutes after first picking up a guitar; they're as simplistic as guitar solos get.
I hate writing this review, I really do. But it has to be done! I mean, what if someone is sitting out there right now thinking to themselves, "Boy howdy, that new
Skylark album is available for purchase! Fiddle-dee-dee, I do believe I will buy it!", and this review wasn't available for them? They'd go out and buy it, and be so upset they would cry themselves to sleep. Well I can't let that happen; I
won't let it! I'm giving a rating of a 4/10.but that's only because I like the first two tracks a lot. If it weren't for those two, I would give it a 2.
Skylark - you have forsaken me!
Written by
Matthew Wednesday, November 3, 2004
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