I don't understand why you guys take so much offense to the COB comparisons? First of all, COB are an excellent band. Second of all, there is nothing wrong with a reviewer describing to the reader that Skyfire are in the same genre of metal as COB. How else would people know if they may like Skyfire if there is nothing to compare it to? Sure the reviewer can simply describe Skyfire as neo-classical progressive black metal with a higher emphasis on the keyboards, but that is not telling the reader much at all. How the hell you think I picked up on them? I went to THE END RECORDS.com and saw they had in the new album by Skyfire and they compared it to COB. I never heard of Skyfire and I listen to all sorts of Swedish metal. Possibly just an oversite on my part but if I never saw "COB" in the description, I would not have ordered the album. I like the whole COB sound along with bands like Kalmah and Norther, but now I have Skyfire to listen to as well. Is Skyfire different from these bands? Hell yes they are, and anyone that reguraly listens to this genre can separate the different bands easily.
The only thing that I have a problem with is when a reviewer might say something like they are bored with the whole COB sound and a band like Skyfire is just rehashing the sound. That person has NO right reviewing an album from a genre of metal that they are not enthusiastic (excited, for those poor with english) about. I myself am a reviewer (Damian @ 666metal.com) and I only review albums from bands or genres I enjoy. I don't have to like the album, just the genre. This is why I don't review power metal because I happen to think that bands like Hammerfall, Gamma Ray etc... all sound the same. I know to the fans of that genre it isn't true. This is just ignorance on my part since I really don't know the genre, which is why I disagree with other reviewers doing the same.
But the fact of the matter is that Skyfire's sound does fit in to the same category as the above mentioned bands. People that do not listen to the genre on a regular basis can easily make mistakes by grouping the same bands together. It WAS done in the past with the whole In Flames, Dark Tranquillity & Soilwork thing. And each of the fans from those bands kept reading comparisons to At The Gates the whole way. We all know that those bands sound nothing like ATG but reviewers must use it since ATG started that genre. Well my friends, COB kinda started this genre as well so you might as well get used to it (if you haven't already), because it isn't going to change. Just try not to be so defensive about it because Skyfire is still a growing band and should full welcome the fans of those OTHER bands. Thanks for your time
SergeantD (Damian @ 666metal.com)
PS-I will be posting a review about the new album @ 666metal.com by this weekend. Along with adding Skyfire to our large metal database.
