Thoughts on Spectral?

[Final_Vision]

So what do you guys think of the new album?

I've listened to it pretty thoroughly since I got it a few days ago and I have to say I'm satisfied. This is the best Skyfire has ever sounded. Everything has a solid punch to it and the guitars sound fucking great. Great crunchy tone thanks to the 7-string.

Basically thats what I noticed, a lot more riff oriented this time around. Lots of double bass riffing. The leads are still there, they just arent all over every song. I like it, but in a way I prefer more leads over riffs. However the keyboard experimenation is great. Lots of vareity in the keyboards with really electronic sounds coming up occasionaly. Of course those huge bombastic keys are still there and you know its Skyfire.

Everything also seems to have more of a black metal feel. Lots of blast beats and more half notes, I even hear a bit of Immortal in some parts. The drumming is great as always, for not being just a drummer, Jocke is fucking good. The bass is definitly the most progressed so far. A lot more interludes with just the bass and its been brought way up in the production. Sounds fucking the best its ever been. I wish Jonas had played on it, but man, the guys did a great job on it. Henke also sounds fucking great. His voice has progressed great since TD. He has that raw feeling that he had on TD but he has a bit more range that he worked with on MR.

I'm curious what everyone else thinks. Personally I don't want to judge it against MR or TD, I think Spectral is a great album for what it is. If I had to I'd probably say I prefer MR and TD, but I am in no way dissapointed. Maybe some more harmonies and leads is all I could really ask for

Current favorite songs would be: Shivering Shade, Shadow Creator, Tranquility's Maze.

 

[Death Aflame]

I believe Spectral is a less is more approach to writing music. Whether this was conscious of the band or not, I dunno.

What I immeadiatly noticed was far less lead guitar work. Sure, its still their in spades but it just isnt a constant thing, as we are used to on TD or MR. However to counter the less lead driven music, Skyfire have made their song structures far better, offering innovative touches to the melo-death genre, like bass interludes and new melodies, that sound fresh.

Also the production is superior, vocals, drums, keyboards/synths, and the lead guitar all sound superior to past works. However I think the rhythm guitar sounds a bit too drop tuned, probably due to the 7-strings, but i am unsure if it is a proper fit to Skyfire' s sound that have established.

Overall, despite my nitpicking, it is a very solid album that has established the Skyfire sound. Now more than ever, the claim that Skyfire are clones of Kalmah or Bodom are clearly ignorant claims, as none are close to the sound presented on "Spectral".

9/10

MR is still my fav, and I think I prefer TD a tad more, but still an acceptional release. Keep up the great work!

 

[froosch]

I don't know if I can really review this album yet, because one the best parts about the first two albums was how well they aged, and it was really pretty cool when I noticed something new six months after getting the album, which I haven't had the opportunity to experience yet on Spectral, but so far I'm really loving this album. Although I was expecting more leads and stuff, I really like being able to hear a heavier Skyfire; it's different, kind of gives Skyfire's music overall more diversity, and the keyboards are fucking awesome. Although I do prefer more guitar leads than keys, I'm not gonna complain when they're done this well. Besides, it's not like the album is void of guitar leads, now each one's a little more important to the songs. I'm really into the whole 7-string thing, it sounds great, it's so heavy which sounds great under all the melody. The bass came out amazing, it really sounds great and adds a lot of depth to the songs. And the songs seem to change around a lot more, kind of a progressive touch, the first time I listened through I had to ask myself a few times if I was still listening to the same song. Overall, great release, I couldn't have asked for any more. 9.5/10.

By the way, so far my favorite song is Cursed by Belief, followed by A Dead Man's Race, Shivering Shade, and Shadow Creator, but I went through quite a few favorite songs on Timeless and Mind Revolution, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Marre79]

"Spectral" 3 words : Pure Fucking Genious!

 

[Gadlor]

Spectral is truly nifty. I have not gone and investigated the lyrics as much as I have the other two, but I can say musically it holds its own. The CDs are dissimilar, so I'm not really going to say which is 'worse' and 'better'. I do miss the 'WallOSound' that Timeless Departure is known for, but this release has its own cool things, such as the breakdowns into bass and keyboards and drums and the new synth sound. The focus on rhythm parts is nifty as well, but the good leads are still there as well. I am enjoying the teaser of clean vocals as well... more, more, more! AHHHH! I do like the new crisp production. It likes us well. I enjoy the long musical meanderings, as well. I do hope Skyfire never stops doing those. And again, the songs are all very distinct. I don't really think you guys have ever had a problem with sounding too similar within an album - it is very easy to distinguish between the songs. No worries of repetition, but the CD also is very consistent. It has a similar tone.

There are also some really strong choruses on this CD. I particularly enjoy 'em. Hmmm...that about wraps it up. To misquote Hamlet: There is nothing rotten in the state of Skyfire.

Favorite songs are Cursed By Belief, Shadow Creator, A Dead Man's Race, Void of Hope...followed by the rest in short succession. Once I listen more and write a review for Epinions, perhaps I'll have more to say.

 

[Gadlor]

Damn...I think I killed the thread.

 

[-iLluSiON-]

I had an orgasm when I heard Spectral. Let's leave it at that.

 

[ShadowOfFire]

Well I agree with most of the statements especially Illusions last one.

 

[Wound]

Spectral...

I received it in the mail a few days ago... In my anxiousness to open it I broke the cd case, haha. Anyway... I pop it in... right away it sounds like good old skyfire, just like I expected... Then as the cd progressed I was glad to hear stuff without keyboard, a guitar harmony, piano and bass interludes, and some sweet rhythmatic patterns.

It's like good old Skyfire just trying to switch up some things. The melodies are superior as always, the drum work is excellent on this cd. The vocals are nicely done, from what I noticed, the lyrics seemed excellent.

One thing I really love is some insanely fast piano parts... sure they've did them before but they really seem to stand out on this cd. I'm not too familiar with the song titles yet, but I think it is track 5... there's a really fast descending chromatic run on the piano... I wonder who played that.

Overall, it is different, all 3 skyfire cd's are.. yet it's still skyfire in their own sound.. and it kicks major fucking ass... Hails to skyfire, one of my all time favorites

-Jash

 

[MC Hanner]

ello!
Just wanted to say hello and thank you to all of you that have been giving us feed-back (good or bad ) here in the forum on spectral. I´ve been reading all of it and its very interesting
you guys write why u think like u do and that makes it real easy to understand the ups and lows aso.

some people i have talked to, about spectral, dont think that we have changed at all since timless departure, others say that we have changed too much. so i guess what im trying to say is that the members of skyfire are pretty confused too
i mean, we dont know how the next album will sound like and neither do u (hopefully)
but its always good to read "reviews" especially when the people that write them know their music.
and we learn from that.

but apart from that, in the end its all about us writing the music we feel is fun to write. and as long as noone of you gets bored listening to a skyfire album. then im satisfied!
til next time
rock on!

 

[Kirurgisti]

This is an average album. The production is way better, but the music ain't so good. The first three track are very good, especially the first one, but it gets worse and worse towards the end and the last song is horrible. This record sounds a bit hurried and forced. Why do you need to publish one album in a year? The melodies are very simple and boring and the songs sound prolonged. The only gothenburg-melodies worth listening to are on the first three tracks. Why the hell are there three choruses on about every song, though there is nothing interesting and no hook in those choruses? Skyfire should just stick with song structures with two choruses. Nightmares Nevermore had a perfect structure. Simple and effective, nothing useless. Intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, bridge, the end. Prepare the next album for like three years and make more amazing songs like 'Conjuring the Thoughts', there is no need to hurry. If the next record comes out next year I won't be buying it. I'd give 'Spectral' 2,5 / 5 points.

 

[MC Hanner]

This is an average album. The production is way better, but the music ain't so good. The first three track are very good, especially the first one, but it gets worse and worse towards the end and the last song is horrible. This record sounds a bit hurried and forced. Why do you need to publish one album in a year? The melodies are very simple and boring and the songs sound prolonged. The only gothenburg-melodies worth listening to are on the first three tracks. Why the hell are there three choruses on about every song, though there is nothing interesting and no hook in those choruses? Skyfire should just stick with song structures with two choruses. Nightmares Nevermore had a perfect structure. Simple and effective, nothing useless. Intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, bridge, the end. Prepare the next album for like three years and make more amazing songs like 'Conjuring the Thoughts', there is no need to hurry. If the next record comes out next year I won't be buying it. I'd give 'Spectral' 2,5 / 5 points.

I respect your opinion and this is actually a perfect example of what i was talking about before. But to answer your questions and critisism, here i go:
"Why do you need to publish one album in a year?"
We dont need to do this, but its great fun to write and record music. I dunno if you write music yourself, but when we write our music it doesnt get better just because we wait another year or two. We dont have much to do here, except for summer when we drink booze, and therefore we have alot of time on our hands. And then we write music. Another thing, the best songs we´ve made , according to the fans in this forum and media, have been written in very short periods of time. we write better music under stress.

"Skyfire should just stick with song structures with two choruses. Nightmares Nevermore had a perfect structure. Simple and effective, nothing useless"
i disagree. If we were to have all the songs made after the same pattern u would fall asleep. The radiohits that are played this days, they are very similiar when it comes to the songstructures. And in metal, i think its great to keep some songs simple and others not.
At last, u think we should write more songs like conjuring the thoughts.
thats the most diverse and complicated song on the spectral album when it comes to structure.
well, anyhow. i hope u got some answers and thanks for your opinions. but in this case i dont think we´ll come to an agreement, its just a question of different tastes in music

 

[Grevén]

I could not agree more with Martin...
Structures like "verse, refrain, verse, bridge, refrain, end" are utterly boring in the long run...
Varied material keeps your interest up for a long time. Maybe it takes some time for the music to really sink in, but you'll (hopefully) never grow tired of it.

 

[Wound]

You guys didn't change much from Timeless aside from the lack of intro tracks

I'm thinking my favorite song on Spectral is Awake at the moment..anybody ever heard "awake" by graveworm? yummay to that also.

 

[Kirurgisti]

I respect your opinion and this is actually a perfect example of what i was talking about before. But to answer your questions and critisism, here i go:
"Why do you need to publish one album in a year?"
We dont need to do this, but its great fun to write and record music. I dunno if you write music yourself, but when we write our music it doesnt get better just because we wait another year or two. We dont have much to do here, except for summer when we drink booze, and therefore we have alot of time on our hands. And then we write music. Another thing, the best songs we´ve made , according to the fans in this forum and media, have been written in very short periods of time. we write better music under stress.

"Skyfire should just stick with song structures with two choruses. Nightmares Nevermore had a perfect structure. Simple and effective, nothing useless"
i disagree. If we were to have all the songs made after the same pattern u would fall asleep. The radiohits that are played this days, they are very similiar when it comes to the songstructures. And in metal, i think its great to keep some songs simple and others not.
At last, u think we should write more songs like conjuring the thoughts.
thats the most diverse and complicated song on the spectral album when it comes to structure.
well, anyhow. i hope u got some answers and thanks for your opinions. but in this case i dont think we´ll come to an agreement, its just a question of different tastes in music

Yes, I do write music. What I mean is that you should prepare the next album more. Don't just jump to the recording room just after you have gathered enough riffs. It would be cool to have a record with so many melodies like the first album had. What hell, who am I to give you advice

Ok, I think I was misunderstood when I talked about the structures. I didn't mean that ALL song should follow the same structure. Yes, it would be so boring if all the songs had the same structure. I liked 'Conjuring the Thoughts' just because of the great riffs, but the song structure was a bit prolonged. I mean, you could have dropped the second verse and chorus EASILY and make the song more interesting and not so prolonged. Yeah, I loved that bridge after second chorus, very proge, like the beginning of a new song. It was cool, but it was expectable that the bridge stuff would hit in after the second chorus. If it woul have hit in like before the second chorus, I would have been impressed. Then again, the bridge stuff on 'Conjuring the Thoughts' is massive, so don't know how well it would have fit in. I think 'Effusion of Strenght' has more interesting structure (two intro riffs which weren't repeated, no chorus in the end...).

I think you should find more ways to impress your listeners, since the music isn't as good on this cd than it was on the past albums. That's just my opinion, don't kill me! But no one can make as good music as you have done for the past albums forever. You just notice that it gets more difficult each time you write a melody. I have written about 600 riffs (who the hell cares...?) and I have the same problem, so I try and write different kind of things to keep the job meaningful. You should add bridge riffs in more interesting places, since the three choruses' structure is way too repeatitive, if you can't find anything really impressive in the choruses. I don't expect you to give a fuck about what I think, but I think your music could be so much more interesting...

You're the composer guy, right? I give you thumbs up, you have done some amazing music It's actually an honour to discuss with you. Did you make the chorus riff on 'Conjuring the Thoughts'? It's so cool, especially the ending of that riff. And what about the intro riff on 'Nightmares Nevermore'? Did you make it? Good news, I have listened to the album more and it seems a bit better. A Dead Man's Race is also a good song, but Shivering Shade isn't that good song after all, only the intro riff rocks.

 

[Final_Vision]

Your way too picky man. The best way to write music is to come natural and just write it how you feel it. Theres no need to say "Oh my god lets add another bridge in here and repeat the chorus here but not do the break yet and than hit right back with another chorus".

I personally understand where your coming from, a lot of verse and chorus bits are repeated throughout songs and seem to get repetitive. I think Mind Revolution and Shapes of Insanity are prime examples of what Skyfire can do in terms of arrangments and I think they've done great. Shivering Shade is fucking amazing in this respect, we get the chorus only twice but that makes it that much more great when we finally get the last chorus. Everything else included the songs keeps your interest up and the song seems more like a journey than a chore to listen to. Shivering Shade is also a prime example of how they can still pull of amazing melodies, that harmony lead is pure fucking Skyfire.

But what experimentation is done also works great, all the keyboard changes and bass emphasis creates an amazing atmosphere, and to me, thats what Skyfire is about, atmosphere and bombast. I think we still have both those characteristics abound on Spectral.

I do agree in a way that some songs could be trimmed down a bit but I think the structuring on Spectral takes some time to sink in. It definitly has for me. Spectral didn't hit me like MR and TD did. But I can definitly say I am happy with Spectral thus far. I think I may happily place it just below TD and beside (or maybe above) MR.

I'd come up with more specifics but I don't have my CD next to me (its in my car) and its 5am, I'm going to bed

 

[MC Hanner]

It would be cool to have a record with so many melodies like the first album had.

Yeah, but we´ve already released timeless departure once. i mean, we did not want to have melodies all over the place like on TD. Instead we wanted to create more space for the vocals and assign the melodies a more important role in the music.

I think you should find more ways to impress your listeners, since the music isn't as good on this cd than it was on the past albums. That's just my opinion, don't kill me! But no one can make as good music as you have done for the past albums forever. You just notice that it gets more difficult each time you write a melody.

i wont kill you if i have understood you right, you´re into metal but the most important thing to you, if not the only thing, is the melodies.
I have never had problems writing new melodies, In fact i think thats the easy part. I have other things that i think can be a little bit hard sometimes, but not that.
And, we could probably make an album very much like timeless departure (guitarleads on every riff, and use all keys to try and do every riff as bombastic as possible), but where would the fun in that be? Sure, some people would like it, but the rest (and also the members of skyfire) would not like it all. Cause as a guitarist or whatever u play, u want to try new things.
To me, an album is a little bit like a videogame; You dont want to buy the same game over and over again. And while a new game do rock sometimes, its always a blast to pick up an old classic.

 

[Kirurgisti]

Your way too picky man. The best way to write music is to come natural and just write it how you feel it. Theres no need to say "Oh my god lets add another bridge in here and repeat the chorus here but not do the break yet and than hit right back with another chorus".

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here... Is there something bad about doing things "unnaturally"? If you want to add a bridge there or there... what's the problem? I mean, isn't the songwriting progress instrumentally about putting riffs and verses and choruses there and there? Listen to Suidakra, their structures don't seem very natural to me, and it certainly doesn't sound bad. And I said that I'm not trying to give any advice, it's all just my opinion.

 

[Kirurgisti]

And, we could probably make an album very much like timeless departure (guitarleads on every riff, and use all keys to try and do every riff as bombastic as possible)

I'd really love to see that! And yes, riffs are the most important thing in metal for me. I don't care much about lyrics, but the vocals are also important, since I won't listen to every crappy singer and growler out there. Then there are the production and the implementation questions... it's about many things, I can't sum it up just by saying that the melodies are the most important thing. But yeah, I sure do like melodies In Flames's 'Only for the Weak' pretty well sums up my taste for metal.

 

[Final_Vision]

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here... Is there something bad about doing things "unnaturally"? If you want to add a bridge there or there... what's the problem? I mean, isn't the songwriting progress instrumentally about putting riffs and verses and choruses there and there? Listen to Suidakra, their structures don't seem very natural to me, and it certainly doesn't sound bad. And I said that I'm not trying to give any advice, it's all just my opinion.

I'm just saying that you can't go in with a preconceived notion that you have to write a complicated song structure. The music comes out as they like and you really shouldnt have to feel like you gotta write the most progged out Dream Theatre-esque song you possibly can.