SKYLINER — Outsiders (review)

Album · 2014 · US Power Metal

5/5 · 2014-03-11
adg211288

Outsiders (2014) is the debut full-length album by US progressive power metal act Skyliner. The band has actually been formed since 2000 so it's been a long road for them to get to the stage they're at now. They've released a few minor releases along the way, the most recent of which was The Alchemist (2011), a two track EP. Some of their older songs are also present on Outsiders, including the whole EP.

Although Skyliner describe themselves as heavy/power metal (with a progressive mind's eye at the centre) the music on Outsiders has much more to do with power metal than it does heavy metal, although those elements are certainly still semi-prominent, and I feel that their branding downplays just how progressive their music actually is. The power metal elements draw on both the USPM and European melodic styles. They're a generally riff-driven act and comparisons to the more hard edged Euro style power metal acts, particularly some of the German ones, wouldn't be inaccurate. The band has a keyboardist, Ashley Flynn (who has since parted ways with the group), but her contributions never overpower the riff-driven power metal sections, instead being used for progressive effect, which includes some calm atmospheric sections in the music, as in Aria of the Waters. The presence of any keyboards however gives Skyliner something markedly different from both USPM and those German acts.

Outsiders is a lot more complex than a typical power metal release. I'd go as far to call at least parts of the album technical power metal. That's not a term you hear put about very often, if at all, the way technical death or technical thrash are, but Skyliner certainly have their moments where such a term pops into my head. The bass by David Lee Redding (who has also since parted with the band and been replaced by Nathaniel Curtis) is a key element of the sound, often taking a prominent role in the music, which includes some bass soloing. The opening of The Human Residue is a good example of the bass's role on the album. Jake Becker's guitar riffs can also lean towards complexity when he's not playing the fast paced power metal riffs and sometimes even those don't stop him breaking away from the typical percussive power metal rhythms, as in Forever Young, which is also one of the catchiest songs on the album - Skyliner generally aren't writing the catchiest power metal tracks here, but this one certainly is infectious.

Jake Becker's vocals mostly vary between melodic and slightly aggressive clean singing, but growls also featured a few times, such as during Aria of the Waters and Worlds of Conflict. Growls aren't used so much though that Outsiders could be considered to have death metal elements, but they're certainly deep and powerful enough that if Skyliner ever wanted to experiment with more extreme metal elements they'd certainly be capable of pulling it off.

The opening track Signals aside (as it's pretty much an intro leading up to Symphony in Black, although it does have vocals), Skyliner's music tends towards a reasonably lengthy track with the average running time around the seven minute mark. The other notable exception would be the album's final track Worlds of Conflict, which lasts a whopping 21:01 so certainly covers the requirement for a prog epic. It's easily one of the album's best tracks, and a great way to round it all off too, featuring all the elements that had made Outsiders great up until that point.

It's a very strong debut album overall, and it's very impressive to hear so much distinction between the different tracks; aggressive, catchy, atmospheric, technical, and progressive are all moods that Skyliner's brand of power metal captures. The musicianship level is high in the Skyliner camp, whose line-up on Outsiders is completed by drummer Ben Brenner, the only member apart from frontman Jake Becker to still be with the band at the time of release.

Outsiders is easily one of the more unique sounding progressive power metal albums I've come across; an absolute gem of a release that if there's any justice should make Skyliner one of the major breakthrough acts of 2014. Something in the high end of the 4.5 stars rating area is easily justified.

94/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/skyliner-outsiders-t3360.html)