5 out of 5 @ OneMetal.com! :hotjump:
"Doom metal bands tend, more often than not, to occupy a particular, narrow sub-generic channel of the overarching doom genre. Traditional doom bands channel Black Sabbaths swinging, groovy tempos and bluesy licks; doom/death bands blend double-kick-led drumming and harshly growled vocals with mid-paced tempos; funeral doom bands convey the sound of being suffocated in slow-motion by crippling depression
You get the idea. Its unusual to come across a doom metal band that really bucks that trend and exalts in casting their net wider, dragging in influences from various strands of doom and other genres beside. With their debut album, To Sail Black Waters, Oakland-based blackened progressive doom sextet Secrets of the Sky have done just that, utilising the vast sonic range afforded them by having three multi-instrumentalists as part of their lineup (guitarist/keyboardist Chris Anderson, guitarist/keyboardist Clayton Bartholomew and vocalist/keyboardist/violinist Garret Gazay) to populate their lengthy, sprawling compositions with a diverse array of influences whilst still retaining a devastating heft and conceptual coherence that marks them out as darkly shining stars within dooms storied pantheon.
First off, lets talk about Garret Gazays vocals. Throughout To Sail Black Waters, Gazays vocal contributions range from blackened, piercing shrieks, dramatically whispered near-spoken word, full-throated, guttural death metal roars and soaring yet plaintive clean vocals, with subtler variations of each colouring the margins throughout. All of these styles are delivered with equal power and confidence, and occasionally, the approaches are layered upon one another for greater effect. In fact, Gazay delivers more vocal diversity on the album by himself than Ive heard from bands with two or more vocalists and this diversity of approach is mirrored in the instrumental performances too.
With three named guitarists and keyboard players, one might be forgiven for expecting To Sail Black Waters to be an overwhelmingly dense record, sonically. However, the reality is that there has obviously been remarkable care taken in the arrangement of the four songs on offer, both in terms of keeping the songs varied and in keeping them tasteful. Instead of offering blaring faux-orchestras and obsessively multi-tracked guitar harmonies, Secrets of the Sky commit wholly to the feel of each passage, and commit to making each moment flow organically to the next. Over the course of the album, Secrets of the Sky reference the grief-filled, despondent leads of My Dying Bride (see the mid-section of Decline, or the windswept, rain-soaked, delicately-picked clean guitars of the coda to Sunrise), the driving, crushing death/doom of Novembers Doom (see the thudding percussiveness of parts of Winter), and even less traditionally doom-y influences like Type O Negative or Cult of Luna via the use of restrained passages of clean guitar, subtly evocative synths and cleaner, more anthemic vocals. In fact, the attention to atmosphere and dynamics within the songwriting smacks heavily of superior post-metal acts like Cult of Luna or Isis, though To Sail Black Waters never leaves you far from an anchoring dose of thunderous riffage to dispel any navel-gazing etherealism.
Finally, lets mention the albums length. To Sail Black Waters consists of four songs, which range in length from the 7:43 of Sunrise to the 12:45 of Decline, with an overall running time of 40:55. This length proves perfect for the album, the extended song lengths allowing the band time to leisurely unfurl their masterfully-paced compositions whilst still making the album as a whole a punchy and concise listen that demands repeat plays. The listener has time to lose themselves in the twists and turns of the songs, yet the arresting songwriting and relative brevity of the album staves off listener fatigue. As I write this, Im listening to the album for the fourth time in a row today, and will likely have it on repeat for a while longer yet. To Sail Black Waters is a remarkably confident and accomplished album for a debut, and is an expansive and engrossing listen which should find a prized place in the collection of fans of doom metal of just about any stripe.
Bottom Line: For pretty much any band to have released an album so fully-realised and confident would be impressive - for a debut, it's near astonishing. To Sail Black Waters is an engrossing, expansive slab of progressive doom metal."
Link:
http://www.onemetal.com/2013/10/08/secrets-of-the-sky-to-sail-black-waters/