Obsidian Skies – Saturnian EP
Obsidian Skies – Saturnian EP
Self-released
Release Date: 14/10/2022
Running Time: 24:10
Review by Richard Oliver
7/10
Born out of the dissolution of another band and the stresses of the pandemic is new band Obsidian Skies. They are a two-piece Colorado based band made up of Liam Dougherty and Tim Watervoort (both formerly of Endlight) and they are releasing their debut E.P. “Saturnian”. The two collaborated again during the Covid-19 lockdown, trading ideas and sending parts to each other which before long became a fully collaborative writing process from which this release was born.
“Saturnian” is a concept release with the story, spread across three songs, taking place on Saturn’s moon Titan. In this story, humanity is forced to flee from a dying Earth, and a portion of the population colonises Titan. While life is able to flourish there, the people who survived are forced to deal with the emotions of leaving their lost home and the guilt of abandoning those who could not leave the planet.
Musically “Saturnian” is a mix of sounds with influence from melodic Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal and Symphonic Metal with the band citing influences such as Amon Amarth, Insomnium, Opeth, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Epica. It is a diverse sound with several ideas spread across the three songs which make up the E.P. and a strong sense of melody and technicality permeates the music. The lengthiest song on the release ‘Rebirth In The Stars’ contains the most Progressive and varied sounds across its 11 minute plus duration, with some cool guitar parts, epic orchestration and lush acoustic sections. Likewise, the final song ‘Home’ starts off low key with acoustic guitars, clean vocals and some very light orchestration whilst slowly building in intensity and heaviness but still remaining extremely melodic throughout.
“Saturnian” is an enjoyable first release from Obsidian Skies. Whilst only a three song E.P. it is a very ambitious release with some very epic and complex music on show. There are some dissonant sounding parts which sound a bit out of place at times and it is a release that gets better as it goes on, but it is a release that shows great promise. Obsidian Skies are to remain a studio-only project for now, but they definitely show great potential with their debut release.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Celestial Age
02. Rebirth in the Stars
03. Home
LINE-UP:
Logan Dougherty (Guitars, Piano, Orchestration)
Tim Watervoort (Guitars, Bass, Vocals)
LINKS:
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