SKYHARBOR: Sunshine Dust (PROGRESSIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

"Sunshine Dust" is the third album of Skyharbor, Indo-American progressive metal band. The band has been evolving smoothly since its first try and "Guiding Lights" in 2014 had already seen the tone soften. The New Delhi-based combo, originally a simple studio project of prodigal guitarist Keshav Dhar, has indeed become a full-fledged band recently touring with the Polish band Tides From Nebula or Sleepmakeswaves.

With this third opus, Dhar confirms the turnaround started four years ago. The music is just as metal, integrating the codes of modern prog with jerky riffs. But an atmospheric tone is now more present with aerial breaks and vocals sometimes pulling towards the neo. Indeed, Dan Tompkins, whose timbre recalls that of Vudstik (For All We Know), works in a softer register most of the time, often melancholic and always as expressive. There are still some extreme elements in the vocals ('Dissent', 'Synthtetic Hands') but in a more sporadic way and perfectly integrated into the whole album, creating a well-balanced sound diversity.

A remarkable effort has been made on the writing of the songs, which are more worked out and whose melodies are more immediate, especially on the first half of the album with 'Dim', 'Synthtetic Hands' and 'Out Of Time' typical of this evolution and whose refrains quickly stay in mind. The whole cleverly mixes pop vocal lines, inspired riffs and solos. The instrumental 'The Reckoning' is one of the highlights of the album with its post-rock side, all the way up to heavy horizons and subtle arrangements that take the listener along bewitching percussions to this hypnotic bass/guitar riff. Finally, the eponymous title that closes the album shines with its melancholic melody well served by a song full of emotion and, again, a brilliant melody.

Skyharbor gains in consistency what it loses in originality since its beginnings and the quality of the compositions is in constant improvement, like the production which highlights each musician in spite of the sound opulence which reigns on the most dynamic passages. Dhar brings djent, atmospheric, post-rock and progressive elements in the spirit of what bands like Earthside or Oceans Of Slumber offer thanks to a very present rhythm section (Temptress). This diversity will necessarily please their fans and those of the above-mentioned genres.

In spite of minor gaps and an identity which will gain to be fleshed out in a near future, Skyharbor delivers us a rich, dense and homogeneous "Sunshine Dust", sufficiently varied to remain interesting all along. A successful album relying on an inhabited singer, an exceptional guitarist and complex and melodic compositions. - Official website

SKYHARBOR

SUNSHINE DUST

EONE MUSIC

PROGRESSIVE METAL