After the Storm

Move over the elves and dragons, skylark is firmly rooted in pixie and fairy power-puff ‘metal’. I use the term metal lightly as most of the time it is just a piano with some random guitar patterns and the generic double bass you would come to expect from flower metal bands. The vocals are generic also, and more often than not in broken English.

The guitar tone sucks; it has no substance what so ever. The drumming is a bare thud at the best of times and you will have a heart attack when he actually decides to use anything but the double bass… Yes, not only does the music have no substance, the production utterly reeks. This combination does not (I repeat and put emphasis on ‘not’) make a good album full stop, let alone one that aims to be of the metal variety.

The only redeeming factor I can see on this album is the track ‘Escape From The Dark’, and I only say this because it is fast and fast cannot totally suck. Oh, and the ‘Tribute To Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ is catchy, although most would have heard this number a million times before in it’s classical version. The second part of the album is slightly better than the first, as the production is stepped up a notch or two, but the song writing is still floundering down there underneath the soles of shoes.

If you wear tutus and like kissing babies (Skylark do; they sing a song called Little Girl), you will probably also like this. For puffs only - Metal should not be a means to show ones love.

After the Storm pairs together the two early Skylark releases 'The Horizon and the Storm' and 'Waiting For the Princess' . The sound quality here could be better (considering it was remastered) but not to worry, the songs are all top notch. In fact, if the production and a few dynamics were improved here, this could easily be Skylark's finest work.
The most noticable flaws are all too noticable. For one the production sounds like a typical 4 track low-key production..I've heard worse, but these songs deserve much more. Second, the guitar tone every now and then manages to destroy a nice melody or hook line, and third, the drums are electronic and sound too "filtered"...Don't get me wrong. I love this album, I really do. But the production flaws makes me take points off.

The first 7 tracks here are from Skylark's first self-financed demo 'The Horizon and the Storm' and while obviously lacking something in the production department, there are many excellent moments to be found. The cd starts out with a piano intro entitled 'The Horizon' and then quickly goes into the opening keyboard intro of 'Fear of the Moon', which is most accentuated by the unusual but memorable tone that vocalist Fabio Dozzo uses with his voice . This particular song is one of the best on the album and is a perfect opener. Next, we have 'Little Girl' , a long ballad-like song with very soothing clean guitar at the beginning and soft, almost whispered, vocals throughout it except for during the dramatic chorus. The lyrics here (although nowhere are they actually printed!) are very poignant here as well. 'Skylark/Crystal Lake', is quite bombastic in its own way, and after about 3 mintues of technical riff-raff, it gets to the actual vocals and it builds up and up until it completely breaks down and builds up again with a brief keyboard interlude that goes back into the song in which Fabio seems to go even higher than before, much like an opera singer here.
. 'A Star in the Universe' is a short romantic ballad song with piano and vocals only. The vocals here are very well done, but the production leaves something to be desired. 'Escape From the Dark' is perhaps the weakest song here, but it does manage to sound different than the rest, sounding much like old Helloween. Last is 'The Storm' which is a short outro on piano.

Tracks 8 to 11 are from the 'Waiting For the Princess' EP and the sound quality is alot better for these tracks. Everything is much clearer here obviously. Afterall this EP is their first release on their label Underground Symphony, thus it was given a more fitting production. This section of the cd starts off with a great and bombastic tribute to Mozart ( Eine Kleine Nachtmusic K525 - Allegro) which takes this famous piece and accentuates it with loud, fast drums and heavy guitars. They do an edit version of the song 'Skylark', which is nothing different than the version on their debut full length 'Dragon's Secrets'.....except for it is different from that version in that it has one of the coolest and most bombastic intros I've ever heard! 'Was Called Empire' (which is a cover of Italian band Adramelch) is a step in a heavier, more Maiden inspired direction but doesn't slack off using heavy keys and very loud drums. Last and most worth of mention is 'Albatros On Sea'. This is a ballad with piano and vocals only, but what we have here is a dramatic masterpiece. It is quite relaxing and stays that way until the end of the song where it has a nice symphonic buildup to what are some of the most passionate vocals I've ever heard. It still gives me chills every time I hear it.

If you can stand the underproduction of the first part of this album, this is yet another recommended gem from the Skylark camp.