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El Viejo: Is Corb Lund the King of Modern Country and Western?

Alberta’s own Corb Lund released his brand new album this last Friday. The country-folk singer-songwriter is on his twelfth studio album, and shows no signs of slowing down. Now, I do tend personally to go for more of a rock/pop country sound. However I do love some more traditional country and western stuff every now and again, so am certainly excited to be checking this out.

The album opens on a fantastic acoustic guitar riff with ‘The Cardplayers’. It has an instant Old Western feel to it, Americana and folk blended together perfectly. Corb’s vocals fit perfect over the top, and the harmonies add another great level to it all, making it massively catchy. Some of the guitar work throughout the track is incredible too, especially through the second verse. It’s a masterclass in folk/blues guitaring, and I’m not at all jealous… It’s a great, darker, more old-school take on country, and an amazing way to open the album!

Single ‘I Had it All’ opens perfectly on some great harmonica work. Long time readers know that if it’s one thing I love as much as a sax, it’s a harmonica. It leads into another great acoustic-blues rock verse and chorus. Again, it’s a damn catchy chorus too, especially with the harmonized vocals. Corb Lund is a fantastic lyric writer, and that is evident in this track. It’s all so simple yet such effective music. It’s another fantastic track, and just a fun listen.

Now, as a Brit, I’m not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of what happened at Fort Worth back in the day, so am not going to comment on the lyrical content of ‘Was Fort Worth Worth It?’. However, as a song overall, it’s another catchy, fun Americana track. Some of the guitaring is amazing, and the chorus is a great, reflective section. I can’t get over just how good the harmonies are in every track, adding so much to an otherwise basic, almost one-man-band style arrangement. Who knows, it may be controversial but screw it, it makes it onto our playlist!

The biggest single from the album, ‘Out on a Win’, is up next. It’s another simple, steady, but incredibly fun track. It’s another track where the lyric writing from Corb Lund stands out massively to me, too. It is a fun, chilled-out track that almost has a touch of indie to it in the vocal delivery, too. Meanwhile ‘Redneck Rehab’ is possibly my favourite track on the album. From the old-school sound of the build-up intro into a fantastic riff and the clapping over the top, it all sounds great. It makes it feel more of a campfire song, which I loved. It also has an infectiously catchy chorus, again featuring some awesome lyrics and harmonies. It’s another track that easily makes our playlist!

The title track slows down the pace even more, but is still every bit a fantastic song. And as a tribute track to someone named Ian, it’s a beautiful, heart-felt track. You can very much feel the emotion in Corb’s vocals and writing, and the pace fit it perfectly. It’s another great track on an album packed full of them.

It was around the time of ‘When the Game Gets Hot’. While it is only 11 tracks and 37-minutes in length, most of it sounds pretty similar. I completely get that it’s due to the style Corb Lund plays, but by seven tracks in I was starting to get a tad restless. The aforementioned track is awesome, having almost a Santana ‘Smooth’ kinda swing to it. The rest of the tracks on the album after it are also great. Especially ‘It Takes Practice’ and another single and closing track ‘Old Familiar Drunken Feeling’. I’d happily listen to them all again, but maybe next time breaking them up with a couple of tracks in the middle may help my destroyed attention span!

Overall: This is a great album! As I said, it’s not 100% what I tend towards when I go for country music, but it was a lot of fun to listen to and Corb Lund is clearly a very talented guy. There isn’t a bad track on this album and some of them are truly fantastic. I’ll be listening to a lot of this for weeks and months to come!

The Score: 8/10

Reviews

Aztlán: The Album to Take Cabrakaän to the Top?

Canadian-Mexican metal band Cabrakaän return this week with their brand new album. leaning into the mythology, traditions, and sounds of their home country and looking to build off of previous album, Aztlán, this release may be their must ambitious yet. Let’s check it out!

An absolutely fantastic intro track, ‘Tonantzin’, beings the album. It sets the scene perfectly, an epic, medieval/piratey number that builds slowly through strings and and tribal drumming, soon adding in some chanted vocals and then finally some distorted guitars in the back. It’s very rare I talk about intro tracks or interludes in-depth in these reviews, but this one was so good I couldn’t not. And it was nearly four minutes long, so I had to!

The scene is set perfectly for the first offical track, ‘Fuego’. It explodes in with a big riff and immediately into vocals. Speaking of which, the vocals are incredible. An operatic style reminiscent of symphonic metal bands like Within Temptation or Nightwish. However, there still remains that traditional Mexican style under it all that works so well with the heavier sounds. The dynamics of the track are great, too. Whether it’s catchy, operatic vocal parts, heavier riffing or the more traditional instruments shining through, there is so much going on, and it all clicks together perfectly. Around the midpoint of the track it also takes a surprising but awesome turn into death metal with a heavy riff and some great extreme metal screams. It’s a fantastic first track and the perfect way to introduce new listeners (me) as it hits them with a bit of everything they’ve got!

Check out more symphonic metal here!

‘Tlaloc’ is another track that bursts right in, the awesome screams making the riff even heavier. The verse is more fast, epic symphonic stuff and it builds perfectly back into the heaviness. I also find it really interesting that the songs don’t seem to follow the typical structure. There are definitely choruses and verses etc, but there’s a lot of other stuff thrown in there to keep the listener guessing. it’s all almost prog, which is fine by me! An awesome guitar solo is tucked into the middle of this track, too. It’s a really interesting, fun track which again combines their elements together well!

‘ Luces y Sombras’ is a massive highlight track of the album, for me. Right from the combination of the heavy drums and epic strings, I was hooked. And, the structure seems a tad more radio friendly, a little easier to follow. The verses are great with the clean, beautiful vocals, the harmonies on them incredible. The choruses are suitably epic too, maintaining the symphonic metal feel. And we still get plenty of heaviness in the bridge/breakdown verse. It’s definitely another single waiting to happen, I’m sure. It’s an awesome track, and easily makes our playlist!

‘Malintzin’ is another highlight track of the album as I love the interplay between the two vocals and two styles. The verse switching from the beautiful operatic vocals to the heavy screams was masterful, especially when it then transitioned seamlessly back for the chorus. The bridge is fun too, the strings adding an awesome layer of doom and epicness over the top of the heavy guitars. It’s another awesome song and the second in a row to get onto our Spotify!

Single ‘Mictlán’ and ‘Yolot’ are more of the same. The latter at least felt a little different as it was a slower, beautiful opening, and the drop-down in the middle to the more tribal sound was cool. However, generally there isn’t much new in the tracks.

‘Xóchitl’ is the ballad of the album. A simple acoustic guitar opens the track, and the soft, clean vocals fit so well over the top of it. It stays at this level throughout it’s 2:40 runtime too, and is honestly fantastic. It’s beautiful and breaks up an otherwise heavy album rather perfectly. One of my favourite ballads of the year!

Finally, we reach the most recent single, ‘La Cigarra’. It’s one hell of a fun track that brings back the Mexican Tradition sound in spades. The metal is still there, feeling more of an accompaniment, which I love. It reminds me of a more serious version of Nanowar of Steel’s ‘Chupacabra Cadabra’, having a similar style to inject metal into. It works perfectly with her vocals, too. It’s an amazing song and a really interesting addition to the album, given how heavy a lot of the rest of it is. It’s another that easily makes our playlist!

Overall: This was a great, interesting listen. It was all over the place in terms of style and sound, sometimes for the better, occasionally for the worse. Some of it did feel a tad messy, I must admit. While not every single track here is one of my favourites, there is a lot I love here, and as an album as a whole it’s solid. The band seem like they are pretty new and I cannot wait to see where they go in the future. Building on this would be awesome!

The Score: 7.5/10

Reviews

Holy Moly And The Crackers Rock Nottingham’s Metronome!

The Newcastle-based folk-rockers Holy Moly and the Crackers are currently on tour. It’s their final one for the foreseeable future, as they have sadly announced, too. Their first stop was at Nottingham Confetti college’s own venue, Metronome, supported by the wonderful local band, 5 Hills Out, and acoustic singer-songwriter Brad Dear. After seeing the band at The Long Road this year (review here), we couldn’t miss this one!

First up on the bill was Brad Dear. The local acoustic guy was the perfect warm-up act for the two bands coming up after. His voice translates perfectly live and fit the folky/gypsy vibe that the show as a whole had. And his original songs are really great. I can’t wait to hear more of his stuff, and I’ll definitely be seeing him again at my next opportunity!

Next up were the awesome 5 Hills Out. I’d actually never heard of them before seeing them here, but they certainly have a new fan in me! The band have such an interesting blend of styles, all of which they pull of well live. Whether it’s punk, ska, folky or even indie, just when I thought I’d nailed the band down sonically, they’d go and surprise me by switching it up. But as I said, the band played each style to perfection, and clearly had fun doing it. And they were practically playing to a hometown crowd too, which is always nice. I’m gonna have to keep an eye on them as they’re so close to me, and I’ll definitely be seeing them again when I can!

Finally, we reached the headliners, Holy Moly. My expectations were high after the last time I saw them, and yet they somehow managed to exceed them all over again. From the moment they took the stage to the last note they hit, they owned the place and had the crowd in the palm of their hands. They were up on stage for a while too, and it flew by like no time at all! Every single member of the band played and performed their asses off, while Conrad Bird and Ruth Lyon’s vocals were both on top form as usual.

Firing off plenty of their greatest hits, as well as tracks that they’ve not played recently or even at all, it was one hell of a setlist. Whether it was singing or dancing along, or nearly drawing tears with a ballad, the crowd were on-board every step of the way, too. While I completely understand why the band are taking a break, it will be such a shame to not be able to see them live any time soon. Not many bands bring this much fun and energy to the stage. It was one of my favourite live sets of the year, no question!

If you can get down to see any of these three acts any time soon, I cannot recommend it enough. This was one of the best gigs I’ve been to this year, easily, and it was down to all three of the acts. What a great night!

Reviews

The Long Road 2023: The Big Bad Review – Day 3!

The Sunday of The Long Road was once again STACKED for us, lineup-wise. So, just to warn you, there’s going to be lots of gushing on this last page.

The first band we saw on the Interstate were honestly phenomenal. Holy Moly and the Crackers are so much better live than on track, and that’s saying something as they are really pretty good on track! They have a bit more of a folky, bouncy feel to them live, while on the tracks it feels a little more hard rock and grungy. Neither sides of the band are bad, but the energy they give off live is infectious and outstanding.

For a smallish band that aren’t too close to the typical music style on the third morning of the festival, they had a pretty busy crowd moving dancing along to every song. And, considering they had a frontwoman who, while massively charismatic, can’t move around quite as much, it’s one hell of an achievement. I’ve been listening to them a lot since I got home, and will definitely be getting tickets to see them again on their tour in November!

After that we headed to see another fast rising country star, Alana Springsteen. I’ve been a fan of her since she was announced, and her album that was released the other week was pretty damn great. Much like a lot over the weekend, she lived up to my hype of her and then some! Much like a fair bit of the big stuff on the bill, it’s the usual female-led pop country. However, it’s done so well, and Alana has one hell of a stage presence about her.

Rattling off some of her big hit singles, as well some great album tracks from TWENTY SOMETHING (and saying the word tequila a potential record time in one set), it was one hell of a set. She’s already on track to be a huge name in the scene, and live shows like this are definitely going to help. Also, shoutout to her British session players, who smashed it.

On our way over towards the Interstate we stopped and caught a fair bit of Laketown. Though I wasn’t really familiar with them at all going into it, I really enjoyed them. It was also nice to see another full band on the Front Porch, especially when it was so many solo acoustic acts on it last year. The three guys put on a fun show and definitely won me over!

Then it was another duo I was hugely excited for, The War and Treaty. To say they lived up to the hype would be a massive understatement. Honestly, this was more an experience than a live set. I don’t think they were expecting the kind of reception and packed out crowd. They clearly got rather emotional at one or two points during the set. However, it just made the crowd response that much greater and willed Michael and Tanya on even more.

Their voices are absolutely incredible and pair together perfectly. I’ve not really heard any soul live and this was the very best way to introduce me to the sound. The whole band did incredibly behind them, but the couple were on a level above all others. It was the loudest I had ever heard that tent be, and it’s my favourite set of the weekend. I LOVE this band!

It was back over to the main stage after that for the amazing Caylee Hammock. Another woman who I have been a fan of since the announcement, she put on a great show and sounded amazing live. Her slightly lighter, more folky spin on country went down a storm with the crowd, and her voice was hauntingly beautiful at times. ‘Just Friends’ and ‘Family Tree’ were personal favourites, but the whole set was great!

TikTok sensation Breland was up next. Honestly, this could have easily headlined the festival, and he certainly treated it like a headline show! Bringing out guests to sing duets with like Alana Springsteen and Kezia Gill was a lot of fun, and the crowd loved both. Between that and rattling out crowd favourite after crowd favourite, it was a truly awesome set. And, just like War & Treaty, it really enhances the experience of a show when the artist is clearly enjoying themselves too. Breland was having a blast here. I cannot pick a single fault with his set, and he’s a born performer. He’s another that is going to be massive sooner rather than later.

Folk superstar Sierra Ferrell was next on the Interstate stage. A packed out tent greeted Ferrell as her and her band took the stage, and despite some early technical issues the set was clearly a hit with the crowd. Opening with a new track ‘Making My Way’ the group then dived into some larger hits from Ferrell’s debut album Long Time Coming released in 2021. Six tracks in and we are given another new unreleased song called ‘Fox Hunt’, for which Ferrell drops her guitar in exchange for a violin as does one of her band members. ‘Fox Hunt’ is a foot-stomping anthem honouring ancestors that had to hunt for survival, keep an ear out for this one when it does get released.

Festival sets can always be a bit tricky, its a fine balance between playing to your dedicated fans that are there for you and those in the crowd that are experiencing your music for the first time. The mix of new tracks, old
tracks, hits and a cover played to all parts of the audience and I doubt anyone came away from this set not counting themselves a fan of Ferrell.

Shane Smith & The Saints were another HUGE highlight of the festival. I’m a big fan of the band and have been watching a lot of their live performances in the leadup, so knew what to be expecting. However, hearing the band being this good live and in person is still mind-blowing. His low, raspy voice is incredible, and complimented perfectly by the rest of the band behind him. And every single one played their hearts out, putting on one hell of a performance. No wonder they’re getting massive in the US, and fingers crossed that success will now follow them across the pond!

Check out our interview with Shane here.

Next up was the bittersweet Sunday headliner, Cam. The last minute replacement of Jon Pardi (who dropped out of his whole European tour the week before because… reasons?), there was a whole heap of pressure on the woman. You wouldn’t have guessed it at all, as Cam smashed it out of the park. Honestly, I think this is a lot of people’s set of the weekend. She is a festival alumni, having played back in the before times, so having a lot of the crowd familiar with her and already a big fan certainly helped.

However, Cam certainly brought it as well, putting on an effortlessly spectacular performance. I laughed, I cried, I sung along, and had the time of my life. She’s another artist that I’ve listened to nearly non stop since I got home, and for good reason. I think it’s the best headline set I’ve seen in the two years I’ve been going. ‘Diane’ is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had live. I really hope she tours over here again soon, as I’d recommend her to anyone!

The final after show act was the awesome Megan Moroney. I hate the fact that this was the first chance I had to see her over the weekend. And I heard she was very good on the Rhinestone stage earlier in the day. However, between interviews and clashes, we just couldn’t make it happen. Much like a lot of this review, hopefully she tours over here so I can see her properly!

However, just in the brief acoustic after show set we saw, she was amazing. Her voice is incredible and her songwriting talent is off the charts. I’m a big fan of her last album and LOVED everything she played off it. She’s another natural performer who had the crowd in the palm of her hand throughout. A damn good way to close out the festival!

And there we have it, folks. Another fantastic year of The Long Road festival under our belts. One of the best weekends ever, and we can’t wait to do it all again next year!

<- Day 2

Interviews & Features

Shane Smith & The Saints: ‘You can essentially hear the scar tissue from touring over 10 years!’

Ahead of his massive England debut set at The Long Road festival this coming Sunday, we had the chance to chat to Shane Smith. Check out as we talk about The Saints’ sound, their last year and their plans for the future!

How would you describe your sound?

I think the simplest way to describe our sound is “Folk-Rock”. Certain songs have elements of: “Country”, “Celtic” or “Singer-Songwriter” styles, but overall “Folk-Rock” seems to summarize it best to me.

Check out another country interview here.

What was it like touring with Eric Church last month?

Touring with Eric was an amazing opportunity. We’ve never opened for an act that pulls over 25,000 folks in a single night… it kind of blew our minds! And yet, he was such a nice guy. I had the chance to talk with he and his wife for a long time on our last night and they were both so kind. It was inspiring to hear their story and see what they’ve built together. On the first day though, seeing roughly 10 tour buses and nine different 18-wheelers, all with his logo, loading in their gear was a very eye-opening experience.

What was it like doing Red Rocks? Always been a venue I’ve wanted to go to and seems like a bucket list for a lot of bands!

Headlining a sold out Red Rocks show was a goal that I wasn’t necessarily sure was possible for us… lol, but we’ve always considered it to be the mile-marker for “making it” as a musician. It has always been the “apex venue” in my mind, so seeing 9,000+ of our fans waving their iPhone flashlights during “Fire in the Ocean” was an absolute dream come true. It will probably forever be my favourite venue.

Is The Long Road the first time Shane Smith & The Saints have played the UK?

Over the years we’ve spent quite a few hours delayed at the London-Heathrow airport, but we’ve never had the chance to play a proper show in England. Bennett (fiddle) and I played several acoustic shows over in Ireland years ago, but that’s the only UK performances up to this point.

You’ve put out a few singles this year and last, is it the beginnings of a new album?

Yes, we are currently finishing up a full length album and a few of those tracks will be featured on it. There are many more to come though!

It’s been 10 years between your debut album and most recent single. How would you say your music has changed in that time? How has your fanbase changed?

I feel like our sound has evolved a significant amount since the beginning, and each album has its own, very unique character. This current record definitely has me most excited though. Even my voice has matured so much since the beginning, and you can essentially hear the scar tissue from touring over 10 years. Regarding our fan base, I’m very biased, but I think ours is the best out there… haha! They’re just a very “real” and down-to-earth group of people that have been truly devoted to helping us grow and spread our music around. We appreciate them so much, and it has been incredible to see it grow, these past few years.

How would you say the scene is doing after a tough few of years of restrictions etc?

We’ve seen numerous bands and musicians have a very difficult time bouncing back from Covid and the lockdowns. It caused so many friends of ours to seek out work and jobs outside of music, which then creates scheduling conflicts and a tough environment for a band to keep moving forward. I was very thankful that we were able to hold our band and operation together during that time, while also keeping everyone paid. Our fans played a massive role in that effort, by supporting our merch store and watching all of our livestream concerts.

Do you have a rough plan for the next 5 years? Any goals/milestones you want to hit?

 I think our main goal at the moment is to release this next record in a big way and continue to make our fans happy. We would also probably love to release music and content more consistently, but while having a much more balanced tour schedule in the years to come, since it’s been so crazy lately. Releasing this new music is our next step though, and I think it will take a huge weight off of our shoulders. I’m very excited for our fans to hear it and to start playing the songs live.

Do you have a dream tour you’d want to be a part of? Be it big act you’d want to support, or friends you’d want to bring along?

I would love to see us open for Chris Stapleton eventually. That would be a big goal for the next few years to come. We’ve always been a fan of his music in the Steeldrivers and his early songs before he was so widely recognized. It would also be cool to collaborate with a wider range of musicians and genres in the years to come. From First Aid Kit to Billy Strings, there are so many musicians we respect that we’ve never been able to play shows with or collaborate with.

Reviews

Tomorrow Will be Without Us: Are Black Mirrors Leading the Charge for the Next Grunge Revolution?

Something different from both Napalm Records and Belgium for us today. It’s not typically grunge/radio rock you first think of when you think of music from either, but Black Mirrors seem set to change that with their second full-length release. I’m definitely curious to hear it, so let’s dive right into it!

Their most recent single, ‘Snake Oil’, starts the album off with a bang, a fast-paced, simple riff running through it all. It drops back a little for the verses, Marcella Di Troia’s distorted vocals coming in perfectly over the top. It builds up into a huge chorus where her vocals clean up and a very catchy melody comes in. It’s grunge, but it’s also definitely dark and a little heavier. It’s giving me Twin Temple vibes just as much as Alice in Chains. Also, the outro building up more and more for a solid minute plus is fucking fantastic. It’s one hell of a way to finish an opening track and is a very satisfying crescendo. Playlisted!

Check out a similar band here.

Another single from the album, ‘Lost in Desert’, feels a little lighter and more radio-friendly. It almost has a bit of a British indie vibe to it, or even a US alt-rock style. It’s giving off massive ‘Bohemian Like You’ by Dandy Warhols vibes. The chorus is another massive, catchy one, and almost feels uplifting despite the subject matter. We get a pretty decent solo to close out the track too. I’m loving these extended outros the band are doing, hopefully we get them throughout. This was another awesome track, and one I can see being play everywhere if given the chance. It’s the perfect single to introduce new fans who otherwise lean more towards the pop side, and it’s definitely a wise decision by the band to have a track like this. Hopefully it catapults them to the top where they belong!

The album’s title track is closer to a straight-up rock track, giving off big Soundgarden feels with the riffs and arrangement. The ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s over it still give off that same American alt vibe, though, it blending together well. The chorus is massively catchy, thanks in part to the awesome backing vocals. It’s another great radio-rock track, this time also giving off vibes of Halestorm and Dorothy in Marcella’s vocals. It’s maybe my favourite performance of hers on the whole album. Great stuff.

The final and lead single off the album, ‘Hateful Hate I’ll Kill You’, reminds me a lot of the opening tracks. It’s somehow a perfect mashup of the first two songs on the album, dark and heavier while still keeping that poppy, radio-friendly edge. It is a fun track, again despite the serious, deep lyrics, and one I’d love to see live as it seems they give a high-energy performance. It’s another easily added to the playlist.

‘Ode to my Unborn Child’ is, understandably given the name, the slower ballad of the album. It starts off low and acoustic-y and builds into a pretty folky track. It’s completely different to the rest of the tracks in all the best ways. The sound fits the sombre tale perfectly and is honestly a beautiful track. It’s a dark folk-rock track, a genre that is getting very popular at the minute, and it handles the shift perfectly. This is another playlisted track. Damn, it’s good.

‘Through the Eyes of a Giant’ somehow opens on a similar folky sound, but builds so seamlessly back into their previous sound throughout. The whole track feels like one big buldup, and I can’t help but love it. It almost had some Tool vibes in the middle part with the guitars. Y’all know how much I gush about Tool, so of course I loved this whole track. Just another track to make our playlist!

After a couple of epic folk-rock tracks, it felt slightly jarring heading into the most grunge track I’ve heard in years. The track is Alice in Chains as fuck, from the riffing to the double, harmonised vocals. I assume the lower harmony, the Jerry Cantrell of the track, is guest vocalist Alain Johann. He does an amazing job and adds so much to this track. It’s the first one so far I’d class as full-on grunge, and I love it. Another fantastic song!

‘Anthropocene’ is another more alt-rock track, going back to the first few songs in terms of sound. It’s not bad at all, but it does feel a little like I’ve heard this now. The final two tracks, however, do feel different. Both are a bit slower than ‘Anthro…’ and have a similar epic feel to the folk tracks. ‘Tears to Share’ is especially fantastic, building to a huge chorus that again reminds me of Dorothy. Meanwhile ‘Say it Again’ is a suitably heavy, fun way to close the album.

Overall: this was amazing. It’s rare to find a band so effortlessly hop between different sub-genres while all the while maintaining their own sound and style, but Black Mirrors do it perfectly. Be it grunge, radio-alt-rock or folk, everything they did was great. There isn’t a bad track on the album and they did a phenomenal job at keeping me interested and entertained throughout. There are going to be plenty of tracks that I’m listening to for long into the future. These guys are going right to the top of the music industry, just you watch!

The Score: 9/10

Interviews & Features, Reviews

The Skyline Lights: An Ambitious Project In a Tetralogy of Them!

When talking to Daniel Sherrill, my contact from the Chicagoland area special events planning team, he had this to say about the inspiration for Skyline Lights :

‘What inspired this particular release was us wanting to put together a perfect set of songs that the listener would have on their Mp3 player during an evening walk in the city of Chicago after being dropped off by the Metra train. The train I take from Elburn, IL to Chicago drops you off at the Ogilvie Transportation Center which is located right in the heart of “The Loop” area which is the most photogenic part of the city at night. It’s the most calming thing to being foot exploring all of the skyscrapers when they’re lit up at night. You get the full effect out of it on a walk with the right music to lead the way. That’s where the title came from and inspiration. Spring is the season coming up here where I’m having those exact same walks. Now I have a designated playlist for the occasion.‘

The album itself is a massively impressive feat. 145 tracks of country, pop, rock and symphonic metal performed by some of the best female artists around today. Now, that’s a long walk, I have to say. So, unfortunately, I cannot do a written review of all of the tracks. I do, however, have some plans for more features on this soon. In the meantime, I have a review of the first 20 tracks on the album, as well as a few more words from Daniel!

Demetra Dokos’ Official Facebook

After a brief monologue intro from Jillian Jade Kallenbach, we launch into the title track, sung by Ariel Ryder. It’s a pop track so obviously not what we typically cover here, but I really enjoyed it. It was simple, just a slow piano, simple drums and some fantastic, multi-tracked vocals. The emotion is palpable already, something I feel will be a feature throughout the album. Ariel is one hell of a vocalist and gets to show it off perfectly here.

Shirley Tracanna, front-woman of Czech symphonic metal band Wishmasters, does a fantastic piano cover of Lady gaga’s ‘Million Reasons’. It was beautiful and such a showcase of Shirley’s talent, especially when it’s quite a different sound than her usual work. Moa Lignell also does a fantastic cover, this time of Dire Straits’ ‘Why Worry’. Both tracks are fairly similar in terms of composition, with this one too being a beautiful piano ballad.

When diving further in-depth about the project, Daniel said:

‘This is the fourth such compilation we’ve released and each one features a larger cast than the one previous. “The Skyline Lights” was meant to be the finale of the four albums so extra care was taken to bring a memorable group of artists together this time to create something special and to have a carefully planned release day that everyone could be involved in and share with their fans. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

‘There’s a good mix of Country artists and female fronted Symphonic rock musicians. Usually the two genres are never on the same releases but here everyone’s songs blend in well.‘

Next up Freakstorm bring a country-rock feel to proceedings with their acoustic track, ‘Out of the Door’. It’s definitely the closest track to ‘my thing’ so far, and again it’s so well done. Brimming with emotion, it’s insane that people can get such feeling out of vocals and an acoustic guitar. The storyline through the tracks so far has been fantastic too, setting the scene beautifully.

The album returns to the piano ballads with Demetra Dokos’ beautiful track. Then we finally start getting a few ensemble pieces. While still heavily piano-led, German symphonic metal band Xiphea adds some beautiful strings over the top as well as some distorted guitar for the choruses. It’s a metal ballad through and through and wouldn’t sound out of place on the latest Epica album, it’s that good.

Then you have tracks like ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Big Bang Drums’ that add an almost folk-rock style to their symphonic metal base. Heck, the latter in particular, from Mireya Derksen, feels like it draws together that many genres of music, from rock to metal to folk to electro-pop. It reminds me a lot of The Fifth Element. I would take that as a compliment because what a soundtrack that movie had. This is a personal favourite track of mine, but so far all have been fantastic.

‘Hammer of Thor’ is somehow a folk-pop track, a sub-genre I didn’t know I needed so much of in my life. Oda Gondrosen does a fantastic job on this track, and it honestly wouldn’t sound out of place in Vikings or The Hobbit.

‘Our theatre group/events planning team had been away from doing live events for two years during the pandemic and this series of streaming compilations was a good way to keep active and to engage our usual fans in the absence of live events. We’d been a consistent live event group since 2008 and now that the majority of our state is back to normal we will be directing and collaborating on a series of brand new events with the group members from the Chicago area.

‘A fifth compilation is set for late July to reunite the international group of artists from “The Skyline Lights” and for those who can’t geographically be part of the new events.‘

Erika Johnston Miner has the unenviable task of covering Brian Adams’ classic ‘Heaven’. It’s fitting emotionally, but I do have to admit I prefer the original. It just doesn’t quite have the same power behind it as Adams’ version.

The Soap Girls arrive a little later on to bring some much needed variety to the tracks, adding their own level of punk to it all. However, having said that, it still maintains the same atmosphere and darkness as all the other tracks on the album so far. It’s truly impressive that they have managed to get so many styles into one album while still keeping the same feeling throughout. 18 tracks in and it’s still interesting and flowing well.

Our good friend Jehanna brings her Ancient Waters project to the proceedings with her awesome track, Måneskinsskygge. We already have a review of the album up which features this song, which you can find here. It fits in with this album just as well as her own, too.

The project isn’t just about the recording, either. Daniel and his colleagues are planning a massive three night show across various different venues in Chicago. ‘In the 80s when a movie was too long for one night on regular television they would promote it as a “three part miniseries” at least here in the states like Ben Hur… Sound of Music.. Jesus of Nazareth” all the long two vhs tape movies… like Titanic.

‘So that’s our vibe for the new tour. A three part miniseries. Where the audience comes to all three shows to be in in the running storyline.’

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